


Little and Broken, But Still Good

by whiteraven1606



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Aftermath, Asexual Relationship, Character Death Fix, Complicated Relationships, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marking, Open Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Polyfidelity, Post-Movie(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Pre-Slash, Shock, Shower Sex, Slash, Teambuilding, Threats, Video & Computer Games, Voyeurism, brief mention of past dub-con/non-con, human Jarvis - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:08:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the final battle of the movie, Clint and Bruce talk about the Loki shaped dent in Tony's floor. Clint's life becomes far more complicated as a result.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irradiations](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irradiations/gifts).



****

Clint glanced up from where he was sitting on the edge of step in Stark's living room. "Thanks."

Bruce dropped down to sit next to him. "For what?" He rubbed the back of his head.

Clint pointed to the damage in the floor. "For making that using Loki as the club."

With a grimace, Bruce turned partway away from the damage. "Uhm. You're welcome?"

Clint smiled a little and leaned back on his hands to take the pressure off his back, which was stiffening up from where he'd landed on it. "Natasha said she made a mistake with you."

"Yeah, getting near me." Bruce gathered himself to stand up.

"No."

He paused and then settled back down. "Then what was the mistake?"

Clint looked at him. "Distracting you. She seems to think if she hadn't said anything you could have fought the transformation."

"Oh." Bruce frowned at his hands. "Well, I..."

"I told she was an idiot."

Bruce turned his head and grimaced at Clint. "Okay?"

"You think that Stark will cover that with glass for me?"

Bruce looked at the damage to the floor and then back to Clint. "Probably." He put his elbows on his knees. "Why did you tell Agent Romanoff she was an idiot?"

"Between the Spear and the attack I lead you couldn't have kept the Big Guy from coming out to protect you."

Bruce blinked. "You've read about me."

Clint shrugged and mentally winced at the pull in his back and shoulders from the movement. "There's always a file somewhere, Doc."

"Right." Bruce picked at the outside seam of the pants he'd found waiting next to him when he had woken. "You seemed pretty calm when I came up in the middle of the battle."

"Stark was expecting you."

"Uh." Bruce nudged a small piece of rubble into the Loki-hole. "He, uh, he's something."

Clint snorted. "He's going to make you his best friend whether you like it or not." He forced himself to stand up. "We're supposed to go for shawarma now that you are up and dressed."

"Everyone is waiting on me?" Bruce followed Clint to the elevator.

"More or less. They got busy putting Loki in chains and Cap asked me to watch over you once the Hulk curled up and went to sleep."

"Ah." Bruce watched Clint lean against the wall of the elevator. "You okay?"

"Hmm." Clint lead the way out of the elevator and through the lobby of the building. "Mostly."

Bruce touched Clint's elbow. "What do you mean?"

Clint blinked slowly. "I'm fine."

With a quick shake of his head, Bruce pulled on Clint's elbow until he sat down on the edge of the lobby's water feature. "What hurts the most?"

"Well..." Clint flexed his shoulder and cocked his head. "My back I guess. My head's a close second."

"What happened to your back?" Bruce prodded Clint's back carefully, noting any little twitches he got in response.

"I had to change location quickly."

"And that means what exactly?"

"It means he jumped off the roof of the building he was on." Natasha settled beside Clint and leaned back to see what Bruce was doing. "You trust that grapple arrowhead far too much."

Clint sighed. "It worked fine. Just like last time."

"Uh huh." She lifted her chin towards Clint's back. "How is it, Doctor Banner?"

Bruce looked up as he rubbed at a knot in Clint's lower back. "Did you land on your quiver?" At Clint's nod, Bruce glanced over to Natasha. "He'll heal. Does he do this sort of thing regularly?"

Natasha shrugged. "Dangers of being cornered up high."

Bruce started checking Clint's head. "How about you, Agent Romanoff?"

Clint caught Bruce's hand as he reached for the head injury Natasha had caused. "It is fine. Would you two quit using last names. It's making me twitchy." He turned his head towards Natasha. "You know he isn't going to turn green right now. He's tired, just like the rest of us."

She half smiled and stood up. "Then we should get the rest of the team together for that shawarma that Stark wants."

Clint poked her in the side. "Names."

She rolled her eyes. "Like you call him anything else."

Bruce followed behind them listening to the argument about names with a small amused grin.

****

They figured out the seating arrangement sort of by default. Clint plopped down on one side of the table and pulled Bruce down next to him, putting him at one end of the table. Natasha sat on Clint's other side and Tony sat on Bruce's right. 

Thor seemed determined to bring all the food to their table as it was being made, so that left Steve just standing there a bit dazed until Natasha pulled on his forearm. Steve sat down and rested his cheek on his hand.

"It smells good."

Bruce watched Clint ease his chair around until he could put a foot up on Natasha's chair. "I think everyone will like it."

Tony leaned away as Thor sat a basket down in front of him. "I saw it as we were fighting and thought it sounded good."

Natasha took the next three baskets and arranged them in front of Steve, Clint, and herself.

Thor came back with two armfuls more and sat over half of it down in front of Bruce.

"I don't need this much, Thor." Bruce pulled one of the baskets towards himself.

Thor smiled and sat down with his baskets. He pushed another one towards Steve. "Your warrior guise fought well. Eat!"

Steve prodded his food with a glove covered fingertip. "There's so much cleanup to do."

Tony swallowed the bite he'd been chewing and he nudged Bruce's arm. "I bet the Hulk could help with the heavy lifting."

Bruce smiled and put a full basket in his now empty one. "I don't think we can trust the other guy to clean up, Tony."

Clint frowned. "Has anyone asked him?"

"What?"

Clint looked from Cap trying to stay awake enough to keep chewing to Bruce looking like he'd been punched. "Has anyone actually asked him anything?" He took a bite of his food. "He can talk."

Bruce frowned. "Talk?"

Tony grinned. "I'll show you the footage of him and Loki. He called Loki a puny god when he was done damaging my floor with him."

"Oh, about that..." Clint pointed at Tony. "What about covering the Loki-hole with glass or something and keeping it?"

Thor frowned as Tony laughed. "I do not understand. Why do you wish to preserve the battle damage?"

Clint started to push his food away, but Natasha pushed it back. "I don't like him...I didn't get to put an arrow in his eye." He rubbed the sore spot on his head.

Thor inclined his head. "Of course, I apologize, Eye of the Hawk." Thor went back to eating.

They fell into silence and Clint had to smile a little as Cap fell asleep sitting up.

****

Clint had figured they'd end up scattering, but Stark just herded everyone back to his tower. It was amusing to watch the man expertly herd while looking like he was just talking his head off about hooking the tower's power into the city grid.

Bruce stumbled and Clint eased in closer to him to keep them both upright. Clint was sore and could feel the bruises forming along his back, but he knew letting Bruce nosedive into the broken pavement under their feet would be worse than his bruising.

Stark lead them out of the elevator to a different floor than the penthouse. There was a nice big area with lots of fluffy and inviting looking areas. 

Clint eased Bruce into one of the fluff piles and then settled next to him as Natasha flopped on Clint's other side. Across from them, Thor lay Cap down on a couch-like thing. He touched the gash near the top of Steve's shoulder.

"This has healed more quickly than Midgardians should."

Tony laid a blanket over Steve. "Yeah, he's special like that." He clapped Thor on the shoulder. "He'll probably wake up before the rest of us, too."

Clint absently patted Bruce as he mumbled in his sleep. He rolled onto his side and forced himself to not think as he closed his eyes.

****

Bruce sat a cup of coffee down in front of a bleary eyed Clint. "You look ready to go back to sleep."

"Uhm." Clint wrapped his hands around the cup. "I'm awake."

"Uh huh." Bruce sat across the table from Clint and pushed a plate of bacon he'd made himself towards Clint. "Here, eat some."

Clint raised his eyebrows. "Thanks, Doc." He snagged a strip of bacon and propped his head in his other hand. "I meant it about asking the Hulk."

Bruce frowned down at his cup. "It is too dangerous."

"Really?" Clint nudged the plate of bacon back towards Bruce after taking another piece. "You know that you were being tracked, right?" At Bruce's nod, Clint flicked his fingers at Bruce. "That also means someone had to do the tracking." 

"Of course."

"He..." Clint grimaced. "I helped. I watched all the footage and read all the witness statements. You know what they make a picture of?"

Bruce shook his head as he glared at his cup held in his hands.

"That the Hulk thinks. He looks at the situation and uses what he has around himself to get where he's going. He doesn't just kill people for fun or games."

Bruce titled his head. "What about all the the people injured...killed. You can't tell me..."

"Provoking you into a fight isn't anymore his fault than it is your fault." Clint gestured with his cup. "You didn't know what you were doing was part of the super soldier program, did you?"

"No." Bruce sighed and picked at his bacon. "I was trying to raise human resistance to radiation. Protect people working in or living near radiation hazards."

"Later do you ever remember what happens during?"

"Flashes." One corner of Bruce's mouth went up. "I remember the other guy catching Tony. And hitting something small that was flying very fast."

Clint grinned. "You really call yourself 'the other guy' all the time?"

Bruce blinked. "He isn't me."

"When you were little did you ever wish you were bigger? Or a monster that would scare all the people away that were scaring or hurting you?"

Bruce stood up and moved to the counter, his breathing unsteady.

Clint took the empty plate from the table to the sink. "Sorry, Doc. I wasn't trying to trigger anything. I just wanted that, you know, when I was little." Clint leaned so he could better see Bruce's face where he was hunched in on himself. "I think maybe your bigger monster just gets to be more real than child-you would have ever thought."

****

Bruce listened to Tony come up beside him as he stared down at the Loki-dent in the floor.

"It doesn't have to stay, Bruce."

Bruce nudged another small bit of broken floor into the dent. "Keep the pieces of floor in there when you cover it with plexiglass."

Tony clapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks. I didn't want to have to deal with a pouty marksmen." He walked over to his bar and Bruce trailed along behind. Tony grinned as he poured himself a drink. "You were awesome."

Bruce grimaced as he fingered the edge of the bar. "Thanks, I think. Clint seems to think the other guy is manifestation of my desire to be protected as a child."

Tony raised his eyebrows as he sat down his drink. "Sounds smarter than you've been about it."

With a huff, Bruce stepped towards the broken window. "I shouldn't let anyone close to me."

Tony came up beside him and offered him a banana chip from a bag. "How about you give it a couple of weeks here? Legolas is staying here since Natasha, Natalie, whatever she's calling herself today, thinks it'd be a bad idea for him to go back to the helicarrier while it is damaged." Tony popped a banana chip into his mouth and talked around it. "Neither of us mind the Hulk, you know."

Bruce sighed. "You are both insane."

Tony grinned. "So?"

He rolled his eyes and grabbed a banana chip. "Fine." He pointed at Tony with his food. "We are going to upgrade everyone's equipment. Clint needs a better grapple arrowhead. One that let’s him control the rate of descent."

****

Braced in the corner near the ceiling behind and above them, Clint smiled as Bruce agreed to stay. It was something to live for, building up Bruce's confidence in himself and the Hulk. Friendships to foster. A relationship to build. Clint relaxed and let his eyes slip almost closed so he could rest for a while.

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out far more pre-slash than I first envisioned so I'm hoping it works for you, Irradiations.
> 
> The title is from Lilo and Stitch, when Stitch is talking about his family.
> 
> Edit: I've added more. I'm leaving the original note that goes with chapter one here. :D


	2. Chapter 2

****

Bruce rubbed at his shoulders where he was very sore.

Clint dropped onto the cushion beside Bruce. “Sore?”

“Some.” Bruce frowned. “Usually the worst the other guy leaves me with is reddened skin.”

Tony sat across from them. “What sort of hit causes that much damage?”

Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. “Multiple grenades to the face left me looking sunburned.”

“Huh.” Clint touched Bruce’s near shoulder. “So, the direct focused fire? That didn’t look like it injured you at the time. It looked like it made you more mad.”

Bruce watched Tony watching Clint. Then he turned to look at Clint. “He’s not me.”

Tony sighed and stood up. “I have upgrades to work on.” He walked out of the room.

Clint leaned forward and nudged Bruce’s knee with his hand. “Don’t cheapen what you did for Tony during the fight by insisting you and the Hulk are completely separate people, okay?" 

“What?”

Clint raised his eyebrows. “How much do you remember about the battle?”

With a shrug, Bruce crossed his arms. “Does that matter?”

“Yeah, Doc, it does.” Clint hunted around for a remote, but didn’t find anything. “Uhm, JARVIS?”

“Yes, Agent Barton?”

“Would it be possible to get that shot of the Hulk and Iron Man up on a screen in here?”

“Of course, Agent Barton.” 

The screen across from their couch came to life showing the Hulk in the right of the screen pulling apart enemy soldiers. Then above them the portal started to close. The Hulk turned his head to look and went still, ignoring a direct shot to his back. From the portal fell Iron Man in free fall.

The Hulk cocked his head and then was off, bounding towards an interception point. The camera zoomed in, keeping the Hulk in frame as he caught Iron Man and slid down a building to shed velocity. 

“Oh.” Bruce uncrossed his arms and stared as they got to the ground and the camera lost them. The camera man moved, trying to get another shot, but stopped short when the Hulk roared.

“That was the Hulk trying to wake Tony up. He wasn’t responding until the roar and then he snapped awake.” Clint gently laid a hand on Bruce’s back. “Thor might have been able to catch him, but, well, I don't know, Doc."

Bruce tapped a fingertip on his chin for a few moments before standing. "I need...Thank you for showing me this, Clint." 

Clint watched Bruce wander out of the room. He leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Hey, JARVIS, does Tony have numbers on how much he thinks Bruce remembers from Hulk-time?"

"That is information under restricted access."

"Huh." Clint stood. "Thanks, JARVIS." He headed off to find a quiet place to think.

****

Bruce sat still as Clint went out to the edge of the roof and sat down with his feet dangling off. He frowned as Clint leaned forward to look down and sighed. Bruce waited until Clint leaned back and then he cleared his throat.

Clint went still. Then he turned his head to look at Bruce over his shoulder. "Hey, Doc."

Bruce moved to sit next to him. "You can just call me Bruce."

"Okay."

Bruce looked at their feet hanging down the side of the building. "You okay?"

Clint huffed a laugh. "No." He sighed and flopped back with a grimace. "I'm one big bruise."

Bruce played with a pebble from the roofing. "I...ah..."

Clint smiled. "Don't worry about it, Bruce."

Bruce laid back so they were side by side. "Okay."

"Did you look at any of the rest of the footage?"

"I watched everything JARVIS could find for me." Bruce held his hands up and looked at them. "I was amazed that he...I...helped."

"You ought to think about letting us try talking to him." Clint put his hands under his head. "Just to see, you know?"

Bruce clasped his hands across his stomach. "I'll think about it." He turned his head towards Clint. "What about you?"

Clint looked confused. "What about me?"

"You need to talk about being under the Spear's influence? I wouldn't tell anyone anything you said." Bruce looked back up towards the sky. "You don't have to, I'm just offering."

"Thanks for that, Bruce." Clint narrowed his eyes and then closed them. "It was wonderful and awful all at once. The truth of the universe molded by Loki's craziness poured into my brain while keeping me from moving or escaping." Clint pulled one leg up to rest his foot on the edge of the roof. "It gave me back my hearing and fixed my eyesight."

"Fixed your eyesight? Your hearing was gone?"

"I'm far-sighted. My up close vision isn't prefect." Clint covered his eyes with one arm. "There was an explosion that I was too close to once. I busted my eardrums. My hearing loss isn't total now that my ears healed up some."

"Ah." Bruce sat the pebble he'd been playing with down. "Do you use hearing aids?"

"When I need them." Clint sighed. "I fought the control and felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, but I think I did."

"Yeah?" Bruce looked out over the clean up below them.

"Yeah." Clint wiggled the knee that was up in the air. "The Hellicarrier didn't crash."

"What do you mean?" Bruce picked at the knee of his pants. "One of the engines blew up."

"Only one." Clint took his arm off his face and let it rest on his chest. "Why didn't I just blow the second engine and then as the whole ship fell just pick up Loki?" Clint clenched his fist. "That's not what I did, though. The virus to the computers only shut down the engine. Left it intact and if it had come to it, they could have manually restarted the engine without the central computer's control."

"You left an escape. Like Dr. Selvig did with the portal."

"I think so." Clint sighed. "I can't be sure. Doesn't matter though. It was my doing."

Bruce looked at Clint for a few minutes. "So you chose to kill everyone that died that day? You stabbed Agent Coulson through the back?" Bruce leaned over Clint and looked down at him. "You caused the Hulk to nearly kill Agent Romanoff? That was all your fault?"

Clint flinched and rolled onto his side with his back towards Bruce. "I fired the arrows that set it all in motion."

Bruce followed Clint and wrapped him in a hug from behind. "Stop." He found Clint's hand and held onto it. "You can't blame yourself for things you did while Loki pulled your brain apart."

Clint took a shaky breath. "I do blame myself."

"And what would Agent Romanoff say if she heard that?"

Clint smiled faintly. "She'd knock me upside the head. Again."

"Okay, so, feeling guilty is natural, but you don't need to beat yourself up about it. You couldn't have done anything different. And if you hadn't been the lead agent taken by Loki the one that was might not have been able to fight it as much as you did."

"Uh." Clint's hand tightened around Bruce's fingers. "Thanks, Bruce."

****

Tony frowned as Bruce got between him and the information on his display. "What?"

"I wanted to thank you."

"What?"

Bruce leaned against the edge of Tony's desk. "To thank you for accepting me as I am now. With the...addition."

Tony grinned widely. "No problem, Bruce-y."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Don't call me Bruce-y, please."

"Sure." Tony flicked information from the display's edge to the center. "You want to go with Agent Barton this afternoon?"

"What's happening?" Bruce watched Tony move variables around.

"He wants to apologize to all the agents that died in the attack on the Hellicarrier. I'm making sure he gets there and comes back here when he's done."

"Oh." Bruce crossed his arms. "Why me?"

Tony cocked an eyebrow as he looked over the display at Bruce. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Bruce shrugged. "I'm not kidding, Tony."

With a roll of his eyes, Tony pushed the display out of his way and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the edge of the desk. "You and Clint."

Bruce's eyebrows drew together. "Clint and me, what?"

Tony straightened up. "Just come with us, will you?"

"Okay." Bruce pulled a folded paper from his pocket. "I...ah...wanted to thank you for this." He tapped the paper on the desk. "Getting a letter from the President saying no one is allowed to chase the other guy or me was unexpected. To say the least."

The corner of Tony's mouth lifted. "The least you deserve." He twirled and snapped at a robot. "Hey, you haven't met the gang. Come here and say hi, Dum-E."

Bruce smiled at Tony's back as he scolded Dum-E into putting down the fire extinguisher.

****

Clint frowned at the row of drawers with their little paper labels in the Hellicarrier's morgue. The ones not in drawers were in neat rows in their body bags along one wall. Clint could feel Bruce standing nervously inside the doors at his back. "You didn't need to do this with me, Doc."

Bruce fidgeted with collar of his shirt. "You shouldn't do this alone and Agent Romanoff is still in a meeting."

"She wouldn't have let me come down here." Clint squinted at one of the tags. "Hey, Doc, would you mind finding Coulson for me? He's Phillip J. Coulson."

Bruce nodded. "Sure." He started with the drawers. Then he went to the bags. As he read the last tag he frowned and stood up. "This is all of the dead on the Hellicarrier, right?"

Clint looked around the room. "Yes." He moved over to the start of the line of drawers. "You didn't find him?"

Bruce turned in a circle and started looking at tags again. "No. Maybe I missed him." He went back through, carefully reading out the tags on each one. When he came to the end, Bruce looked at Clint. "He's not here."

Clint headed to the small office just outside the doors to the morgue. "Could be they released him for burial."

Bruce looked through the paperwork at the small desk. "He's not listed anywhere. Not even in the master list of deaths."

"He died, right? Nat said Fury said so over the intercom while I was out of it."

Bruce looked up from the papers he was double checking. "Tony said that he saw the blood on the wall from Phil falling down after Loki stabbed him." He put the papers down and came around the corner of the desk. "Fury showed Tony and Steve Agent Coulson's bloody trading cards which caused them to talk about what Loki might be planning."

Clint made a face. "Bloody trading cards?" He shook his head. "That can't be right." Clint started down the hall.

Bruce hurried to keep up with him. They moved through the Hellicarrier and Bruce mentally winced when people moved to the walls as they passed by. He wasn't sure if it was because of him or Clint, but it was making Clint more tense. 

They came to a plain door. Clint tapped in an access code and the door popped open. They went into a small office with neat stacks of paperwork all over the desk, held in place with clips slipped over holders built into the desk. Clint went to a small locker in the corner. He pulled a knife from his pocket and slipped the lock.

The computer came to life. "Agent Barton, if you are in my locker without my express permission I will be cutting your range access."

Clint hung his head and swallowed hard. "Damn. I forgot about the automated warning."

Bruce touched Clint's shoulder. "It's okay."

With a nod, Clint pulled the door on the locker open. He took a small box from the top shelf and carefully opened it. "Here they are." He poked through them, counting. "Uh. None of them are missing."

Bruce gently took the box from Clint and closed it back up. "So, whose cards were bloodied?"

"Mine."

They whirled around to find Director Fury standing in the doorway.

He stepped in and closed the door behind himself. "Agent Coulson isn't in the morgue."

Clint stepped in front of Bruce to be between him and Fury. "We saw that, Director."

Fury nodded and reached around Clint to take the box of cards from Bruce. "I think Agent Coulson would like his cards." Fury sat the box in Clint's hands. "The base in upper New York."

Clint blinked. "He's not..." He bent over and put his hands on his thighs. "Oh, God."

Fury looked at Bruce even as he patted Clint on the back. "I told Stark and Rogers what they needed to motivate them. I hadn't informed anyone Coulson survived because until this morning no one was sure he would."

Bruce stepped closer to Clint, while eying Fury. "I'm sure Agent Coulson would like vistors. Today."

Fury smiled. "Yes, today would be alright."

****

Bruce stood outside a meeting room's door with Tony as Clint stuck his head in to say something to Agent Romanoff. When Clint pulled back Bruce frowned at him. "Did you just call her 'little bunny' in Russian?"

Clint smiled and the door behind him flew open as Agent Romanoff barreled through it to pin Clint to the wall across from them. She checked him over thoroughly before shoving him away from her.

"You aren't bleeding to death, so what's the emergency?"

Clint took ahold of her shoulder. "Nat, Fury lied about Coulson."

She lifted her chin and glared at them all. "What are you talking about?"

Tony pulled on Bruce's arm. "Come on, let's get Capsicle while the siblings are squabbling so everyone can be ready to go at the same time."

Bruce smiled at the twin glares of death Clint and Agent Romanoff where sending Tony's way. He followed Tony, turning the box of trading cards Clint had entrusted him with over in his hands. "I thought you'd have gone ahead in the armor by now."

Tony shrugged as they turned a corner to find Steve checking over his shield. "I'd have to argue to get admitted. This way we can just turn Cap's disappointed expression on them."

Steve looked up. "Who am I disappointed with?"

Bruce watched Steve get mad as Tony explained. 

Steve's shoulders tightened, he stood up taller, and his expression hardened. "Where is Agent Coulson?"

****

Phil struggled awake. He had an order to follow. Fury had given it to him, so Phil just had to remember what it was so he could carry it out. He blinked at the circle of faces around him. Clint was beside Natasha. "Are you...okay?"

Clint smiled and patted Phil's shoulder. "Fine, sir. Just rest."

Phil let his eyes slide closed. He worked hard to open them back up. His order, he had to follow from Fury. He could ask Natasha. She'd know what it was. When he got his eyes open he frowned. All the faces were missing and only Dr. Banner was there. "What?"

"You're okay, Agent Coulson. You keep going to sleep."

Phil tried to nod, but his neck was stiff. "Okay." Dr. Banner's fingers ran down skin somewhere on Phil's left. He wasn't sure where Dr. Banner was touching. Phil frowned. "I have an order?"

Dr. Banner's eyebrows came together. "Order? Do you remember who gave you the order?"

Phil blinked and when he opened his eyes Captain Rogers drawing next to him. "Oh."

Rogers looked up and smiled. "Hey, Agent Coulson. Bruce said you were worried about an order from someone."

Phil made an affirmative noise.

"You followed it. The order was Fury telling you to live. That's all."

"Oh." Phil could feel pressure on his left side. "I'm sorry."

Rogers frowned. "Sorry about what?"

Phil fell asleep trying to remember what he was sorry for.

****

Tony watched the transfer of Coulson into the private ambulance from behind his phone. Everyone else was fretting about Coulson, so Tony busied himself with getting the floor for Coulson arranged and having JARVIS find and retain the best nurses and doctors that used to be special ops that Tony's money could get.

The ambulance crew offered to let two of them ride along. Tony nudged Bruce right after Clint climbed in because it looked to Tony like Romanoff wasn't going. Bruce touched her arm and she shook her head slightly, so Bruce climbed in after Clint.

Tony waited for the ambulance doors to close to step forward. He didn't look up from his phone. "You didn't want to ride with him?"

Romanoff looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "The space inside a rolling box is only so big."

Tony could see Steve over her shoulder shudder just a little. "Yeah, I get that." Tony watched Happy pull up as soon as the ambulance moved forward. Tony opened the door to the limo. "Bigger on the inside." 

She snorted. "It isn't TARDIS blue."

Steve looked at them both like they were crazy. Tony let Romanoff get in first and leaned towards Steve as he stepped in. "Reference to a TV show we are introducing you to very soon."

"Oh." Steve nodded. "Sure." 

They made themselves comfortable. Tony pulled up a feed for the small camera he'd stuck to the corner of the ambulance's inside wall. He handed the live feed to Romanoff.

She looked at it and then at him. "Who are you and what have you done with Stark?"

Tony smirked as Steve tensed. "I might be a robot."

She rolled her eyes and leaned back into her couch with the live feed in her lap. "If robot-you is deciding to be this nice all the time, I suppose I don't need to disable you."

Tony relaxed back and tapped his fingers on his reactor. "Would you rather I throw a party and destroy the rest of the Tower?"

"No." She tucked one foot up under herself. "You are typically more focused on your projects than caring about other people. Are you okay?"

Tony frowned and tapped his reactor a little faster. "Why, Agent Romanoff? Are you worried about me?" 

Steve took the live feed from Romanoff's hands. "Hasn't anyone ever worried about you, Tony?"

"That I'm not paying?" He thought about it. "Maybe Rhodey. I make him angry a lot of the time, so probably not often."

Steve frowned at him over the tablet and Tony closed his eyes to pretend to sleep so they'd leave him alone.

****

Bruce herded Clint out of Phil's room near midnight. "He'll be fine. The medical personnel Tony hired are watching him carefully. You need to sleep."

Clint nodded at the nurse that looked like he could take on Thor. "I'm okay."

Bruce blocked him into the corner of the elevator. "No, you aren't. You can go right back in the morning. I promise. Right now, you need to sleep. Okay?"

Clint blinked. "Okay." He leaned on Bruce as they emerged from the elevator.

Leading them towards his bedroom, Bruce made sure not to bump Clint into anything. He got Clint to sit on the side of the bed and started to unlace Clint's boots. 

It took him several minutes to get Clint stripped down to his underwear. Then he tucked Clint under the covers and changed into a pair of sleeping pants. 

Bruce eased under the covers on the other side of the bed and smiled as Clint snuggled into his side. "Shhh. You are okay here. I'm on watch, Clint."

Clint muttered something and went boneless half on top of Bruce.

****


	3. Chapter 3

****

Clint blinked awake and frowned at how he was moving, when his brain knew he shouldn't be moving. It took him a moment to place that the moving was in time to the breathing of Bruce asleep under him. Clint rolled off Bruce onto his back and frowned at the ceiling. 

Bruce snorted and rolled towards him. Clint shifted him closer and eased Bruce's head onto a more comfortable place on his chest.

Clint turned his head and stared at the fingertips of his free hand. He moved them, just to feel his body follow his commands. "JARVIS, is Coulson alive or was that just a dream?"

JARVIS' voice came from a speaker to Clint's right, the side away from Bruce. "He is alive and given his current vitals, estimated to wake in approximately 17 minutes."

"Uh." Clint blinked and kept staring at his fingertips. He moved his thumb over each fingertip slowly, dragging it to feel the scrap across his skin. He concentrated on the rest of his body and felt his skin against the covers over him. His side towards Bruce was tingly from the skin contact. His toes were poking up into the sheet over them. 

Clint grinned. "I'm me." He wiggled his toes. Turning his head towards Bruce, Clint let himself go back to sleep.

****

Bruce came awake with a contentment he'd not remembered having in far too long. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around. Clint was breathing softly into his neck and Bruce could feel Clint's knee digging into his thigh.

Bruce ran a hand firmly down Clint's bare back. Clint hummed under his breathe and moved closer, mashing his face into Bruce's shoulder. Bruce smiled at that.

He gathered Clint closer to himself and drifted back off to sleep, for once the sound of gunfire in his head silenced.

****

Phil frowned when he opened his eyes and the ceiling color had changed. "What?"

Dr. Banner patted him on the chest somewhere off to the right side. "You're alright. Tony had you moved into the Tower yesterday." He moved to one side.

Past Banner, Phil could see Barton asleep against the wall.

"He's been hovering. He went to sleep about three minutes before you woke up."

Phil smiled at that. "Shift sleeping. We...missions." He frowned.

Banner patted him again. "You have a lot of healing to do. Don't worry, alright?"

Phil humphed and closed his eyes.

****

Tony couldn't shake the feeling that Steve was hanging out because he felt sorry for Tony. "Why are you down here?"

Steve didn't even look up from his drawing. "You never remember to eat."

Tony frowned. "That isn't a reason."

"Sure it is." Steve smiled at him and then went back to his drawing.

Tony scratched his head, decided to let it go, and went back to work on his idea for communications systems for the Hulk.

****

Clint crawled into bed with Bruce that night after Natasha kicked Clint out of Phil's room. "Thanks, Bruce."

Bruce sleepily pulled Clint closer. "Sleep."

Clint smiled and cuddled up to Bruce's side. He lay there tracing trajectories across Bruce's skin as the man slept. Clint was too keyed up to sleep yet.

With a snort, Bruce jerked upright and scrambled back away from Clint until he fell off the bed in a tangle of blankets.

"Bruce?" Clint scrambled to the edge of the bed and looked down at Bruce sobbing into his hands. "Hey." He slipped down to sit next to Bruce and wrapped himself around the other man.

"Sorry." Bruce curled tighter into himself.

"No, no." Clint soothed his hand down the back of Bruce's neck. "No being sorry about crying, Bruce. Never, okay?"

Bruce nodded shakily and turned to cling to Clint. "I'm such a damn mess."

Clint hugged him tight. "We're all messes."

****

Steve was putting together a sandwich for Tony when Natasha appeared and leaned into his side.

"Don't try to hand it to him. Just set it down beside his right elbow."

Steve blinked. "How did you know it was for Tony?"

She nudged his bicep with her head. "You don't like mayo."

"Uh." Steve put the top slice of bread in place and cut the sandwich in half. "Are you alright?"

She snaked her hand across under his arms and got a scrap of meat from the bag next to the plate Steve had the sandwich on. She popped the meat into her mouth. "I'm fine."

"Alright." Steve started to ask her why she was leaning into him, but then he decided against it and just enjoyed that she felt like she could.

Later, as he was setting the sandwich down by Tony, Steve pondered the way Natasha had been acting in the kitchen. "Tony?

"Hmmm?" Tony flicked bits of light around.

It looked to Steve like he was working on Iron Man suit. "Do you know if Agent Romanoff has any friends?"

Tony blinked as he turned his head towards Steve. "What? Wait, why do you want to know?" He frowned, cocked an eyebrow, and flicked all the designs hanging in the air into a little ball of light. "Back up. Why are you asking?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm curious is all." He pushed the plate a little closer to Tony. "Everyone's files talk about their skills or weaknesses, not if they have anyone to talk to about things."

Tony checked over the sandwich. "Who told you I liked chicken?" He glanced up from the sandwich to look at Steve. "Are you asking because you want to be her someone to talk to?"

Steve rubbed at his forehead. Talking to Tony could still give him a headache. "I asked JARVIS about the sandwich. And, no, I just wondered because she leaned on me in the kitchen and told me not to hand you the sandwich directly."

Tony blinked and then frowned. "Uh." He took a bite of the sandwich and his eyebrows went up. He spoke with his mouth full. "This is really good." He took another bigger bite. "Thanks, Cap."

Steve resisted the urge to tell him to chew with his mouth closed. "You're welcome."

****

Natasha sat down near Bruce as he worked. "Doctor."

"Agent Romanoff." He glanced at her over his glasses. "Are you going to ask me to stop whatever it is I'm doing with Clint?"

She put her chin in her hand. "No." She looked him square in the eyes. "I wanted to give you pointers so you don't have the same problems that have hurt him in the past."

"Oh." Bruce moved a rolling stool over to sit across from her. "I'd appreciate any help."

"He's been betrayed by family. Nearly killed by a brother he will not talk to you about." She put her other hand up under her chin to go with the first. "Trusting is hard and a fragile thing. Touch is reassuring for him in a way I don't understand."

Bruce nodded. "Clint is less reserved about touching than you tend to be."

She dropped her hands to cross her arms on the table. "Yes. He is extremely attached to Phil, but not sexually."

With another nod, Bruce clasped his hands on the table. "More than a found family you built. Profound bonds that all three of you share, is that right?"

She frowned and her mouth twitched to one side. "Yes. Do you think you won't be too mad if Clint sleeps beside Coulson sometimes? If you think it will cause you to transform, I need to suggest you not get more involved with Clint."

Bruce pressed his lips together and slowly, telegraphing his movement, reached across to gently lay his hand on her forearm. "I'm not going to be jealous of something like that. You needing Clint sometimes I'm sure and that's fine too."

She blinked. "If I came into your bedroom and curled up on the foot of the bed?"

He cocked his head. "As long as you knock if we're in the middle of sex, that's alright."

She smiled and turned her arm to catch him under the forearm. "Thank you."

****

Bruce slipped into Tony's workshop, stepped carefully around a snoring Steve and settled beside a bleary eyed Tony. "You look a bit evil scientist this evening."

Tony grinned. "Steve made me stop to eat and have a gossip session. I'm a little manic now." He flicked a part into the whole of the design he was working with. "Too much energy."

"Oh, good, you can help me with my small freakout, then."

Tony pulled his hands out of the design and turned towards Bruce. He eyed him. "You don't look green. Not much of a freakout?"

"Well, it doesn't make me angry."

"Ah." Tony crossed his legs and put his hands on his knees. "You have my complete attention, grasshopper."

Bruce smiled. "Right." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I, ah, think I might have just agreed to a being in a open polyfidelity non-sexual type something with Agents Coulson and Romanoff to go with my maybe budding relationship with Barton."

Tony scratched his head. "Wow. Even I'm not that complicated. So, wait." He drew invisible lines in the air in front of him. "So you want to have sex with just Barton?"

"Maybe." Bruce frowned at his hands. "I'm not sure I can have sex."

"What?" Tony looked horrified.

Bruce shrugged. "Last time I tried, I couldn't."

"That's tragic." Tony swiped the current design away and in the cleared space started a list of some sort. "So, you want to have sex with Barton. Not with Agent Romanoff or Agent?"

"Right." Bruce watched Tony start to build a model of some sort. "I call him Agent Coulson, but yeah. I don't even think anyone has asked him his opinion. Given how in and out of it as he is right now."

"Improving though." Tony pulled a monitor from his left closer and tilted it for Bruce to see. "Much better than yesterday."

Bruce nodded. "True enough. Maybe he'll threaten to kill me if I hurt Barton instead of giving me pointers like Agent Romanoff."

Tony turned his head towards Bruce. "Pointers for sex?"

"No!" Bruce whapped Tony on the shoulder and then smiled as Tony laughed out loud.

****


	4. Chapter 4

****

The first day Phil felt like standing he shuffled to the edge of his bed and frowned at Clint hovering with Dr. Banner a few feet behind that. "I'm capable of standing upright and sitting right back down, Barton."

Clint nodded. "I know." He didn't move.

Banner covered his smile with a hand as Phil took measured breaths. Phil pushed up and when the dizziness he had expected hit him, Clint was right there, holding onto his elbows. Phil held on, forcing his legs to hold him until Banner was touching Clint's shoulder.

"That's enough for now." 

Phil gratefully dropped back to the bed. Clint fussed and arranged things until Phil was ready to punch something. Instead, he congratulated himself on staying awake so long in a single period.

Banner gently herded Clint away about the time Phil started seriously considering punching as an option. "Go get some more coffee, okay?"

Clint frowned, but went anyway. 

Phil frowned at that. He waited until the door had closed. "How did you get him to listen to you?"

Banner rubbed his hands together and then wrapped his arms around himself. "Uhm. We're..." He made a shrug motion with one shoulder. "Together?"

Phil could feel his mental processes moving far too slowly for current conversation. "Oh."

"I, uhm...I told Agent Romanoff I'm fine with what Clint has with you. With her." He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his nose. "I was sort of expecting a shovel talk, but she...didn't do that."

Phil relaxed at that. "Did she tell you Clint likes his spine stroked? Skin on skin."

Banner blinked. "Okay. You are still on strong painkillers, aren't you?"

Phil wrinkled his nose. "I can't feel my fingertips, so probably. Doesn't change anything."

"Uhm." Banner settled next to Phil's bed. "The three of you don't..." He twirled his finger around. "Have sex?"

He could feel his eyebrows rising. "No. It is more alleviating stress with movies. He has skin hunger attacks sometimes. She needs to know she isn't just a walking weapon. None of which requires sexual contact."

"And you? What do you get out of it?"

Phil smiled as he started to lose the battle with keeping his eyes open. "I get to be the one...they trust."

****

Steve found Clint staring at the coffee machine with a steaming cup innocently sitting in the slot. "Clint?"

Clint startled and whirled around with a knife in his hand. Steve had jumped backwards as Clint moved, so they ended up staring at each other from across the kitchen. "Oh." Clint sheathed the knife and frowned. "Cap."

"You alright?" Steve moved closer again and pointed at the coffee. "Your coffee is getting cold."

Clint blinked and looked blankly at the coffee. "It isn't mine. It's for Bruce."

Steve carefully laid a hand on the tip of Clint's shoulder. "You didn't answer if you were alright or not. Do you need to sit down?"

Clint frowned and tapped the counter near the cup. "Why did you trust me?"

"For the battle?"

Clint nodded and clenched his fist.

Steve eased closer and gently pushed on Clint's shoulder. "Come on, Barton. Let's sit down. I need to sit, okay?"

Clint let himself be lead to the table and he sat down. "You didn't need to sit."

Steve smiled as he put something Tony called an 'eye pillow' into the microwave. "I'll sit in just a second." He took it out after a little bit. He put the lavender smelling pillow into Clint's hands. "See? Sitting."

Clint turned the pillow over in his hands. "This is hot."

"Just warm." Steve ducked a little to get Clint to look at him. "You don't look real swell right now."

"Yeah." Clint licked his lips and gripped the little pillow. "Why did you trust me?"

"Your eye color was different." Steve pointed at Clint's hands. "Body language was completely different. And Agent Romanoff wasn't trying to kill you."

Clint snorted. "I wished right after that the Hulk had smashed me." He looked up at Steve. "I ashamed I thought that now because Bruce doesn't forgive himself for the smashing."

Steve wrapped his hands around Clint's, trapping the warm pillow in the middle. Clint's hands felt like blocks of ice and Steve pushed that thought down as far as he could. "You are always going to have regrets, Clint. Thoughts of how if only you'd done something different." He brought Clint's hands up to his mouth and blew warm air on them. "It shouldn't take away from your happiness now."

Steve could see Tony backing out of the doorway over Clint's shoulder.

****

Tony was banging on a part of his armor by the time Steve got Clint settled with Bruce to watch over him. Steve came up to the edge of the area Dum-E was defending with a fire extinguisher.

"Tony."

Tony ignored him, more or less. He banged harder on the armor.

Steve sat down and crossed his arms. "Tony."

Tony huffed and threw down the hammer he'd been using before turning, glaring at Steve. "What?!"

"You've seen people in delayed shock before."

Tony blinked. "What?"

Steve gestured at Tony. "You've seen shock. You've been in shock, I'm sure. Do you get cold?" Steve grimaced. "Cold is hard now. Clint's hands were like ice."

"Oh." Tony came over and dropped down to sit next to Steve. "You were helping him with shock."

"That eye pillow thing worked for a hand warmer. He was saying it was hot. It wasn't." Steve frowned and turned his head towards the door. "Oh, maybe I didn't feel it right. That happens now. I'm always cold."

"JARVIS would have warned you if it was too hot." Tony frowned as Dum-E approached with a blanket. "Steve, you're shivering."

Steve looked down at his hands. "Yeah. I lost Bucky in the snow. And Peggy to ice, sort of. I don't want to lose more people to the cold."

Tony wrapped the blanket from Dum-E around Steve's shoulder. "JARVIS raise the temperature in here."

"Would you like tropical island or deep jungle, sir?"

Tony grinned a little as he pulled on Steve until he leaned into Tony's side. "Let's go with tropical island."

****

Bruce gently pushed Clint ahead of him. "Steve said you were too cold. Are your hands normally too cold?"

"Since the cube." Clint had his hands tucked in his arm pits. "Space is cold."

"Uh huh." Bruce headed them into the bathroom. He sat Clint on the bench beside the huge shower area. Rain room, Bruce thought it was probably called. He hit the controls to warm the floor and walls. Then he added the control for the air wall that would keep the water in the shower area. "Let's warm up, okay?"

Clint stripped down once he saw Bruce removing his clothes. "Are we going to have sex now?"

Bruce stroked down Clint's spine and watched the wave of relaxation just spread from there. "Maybe. I don't know that I can."

Clint arched into a second stroke down his back. "What do you mean?"

Bruce wrapped a hand around Clint's hip and guided him into the shower. "I couldn't control the other guy and I had to stop. It was a while ago."

Clint turned his face up into the water for several moments before blinking water out of his eyes to look at Bruce. "You want to try?"

Bruce bit his lower lip. "I'm...Yes." He frowned at his toes. "I should say that it is too dangerous. That I can't." He lowered himself to sit on the bench along the back wall of the shower. "I want it though. I want...you in a way I haven't wanted anything since Betty."

Clint knelt in front of Bruce. "Were you passive last time? When it didn't work?"

Bruce cupped Clint's shoulders. "What?" He looked at Clint looking at his semi-hard cock. "Oh, no. I was leading."

Clint glanced up at the ceiling. "There's enough room in here if you change that you won't hit your head."

Bruce shivered. "I...I don't..."

Clint kissed the inside of Bruce's thigh. "Okay, no full on sex. What about hickeys?"

Bruce panted as Clint sucked on the skin of Bruce's inner thigh. "Oh."

Clint grinned into the blooming mark. "Feeling lots better now, Bruce." He curled his hand under Bruce's balls. "More marks?"

Bruce panted, nodding. He cupped the back of Clint's head as the man bit and sucked another mark up higher on Bruce's thigh. Bruce tried to control his breathing, but Clint kept moving, spreading the hickeys. Making more marks.

With a whimper, Bruce laid over on the bench. 

Clint moved up to Bruce's chest. He kept his hand cupping Bruce's scrotum. "Like you all flushed red. Watching me."

Bruce moaned as Clint bit at his nipples. "Clint."

"Yeah. Thought you'd like that." Clint started gently stroking Bruce's scrotum with his thumb as he sucked on Bruce's neck. He kept pulling up marks on Bruce's shoulders.

Bruce lay there, his hips twitching, one hand on the back of Clint's neck as the man bit and sucked his way back down Bruce's body. Bruce made a little chocked off whine as Clint licked Bruce's lowest rib.

"So good, aren't you, Bruce?" Clint spread Bruce's legs more and bit at the inside of one knee. "Handsome man."

Bruce moaned as Clint started pumping Bruce's dick. "Oh. Oh...wa..."

Clint twisted his hand just as he bit on Bruce's scrotum. Bruce went rigid and then shivered, whining a little as his climax crashed through him.

Clint happily spread semen around Bruce's stomach as Bruce lay there panting. "Oh, I think you can have sex."

Bruce started to cry. "That was...so..."

Clint pulled Bruce off the bench into his lap and let the water rain down on them. "Shh, Bruce. Just let it out."

Bruce shook and wrapped himself around Clint as he buried his face in Clint's shoulder.

****

Steve was sprawled across Tony's lap asleep when Tony's main screen flashed a silent approaching Hulk alert. Tony flicked his hand at the screen and pulled the data to him. He frowned. Bruce's vitals weren't matching other records of pre-Hulk readings exactly.

Tony flicked his fingers and pulled up video. It gave him the code box for Bruce's bathroom. Tony glanced down at Steve asleep and flicked a keyboard up into place. Inputting the three codes needed, Tony grinned when he got a live feed. He muted it and subtitles started up automatically. Tony watched Bruce's readings carefully as Clint worked him over.

Marking the spot where Bruce should have Hulk'd, Tony smirked as Clint got Bruce to cum.

"Drugged states all around today." Tony set the Hulk alert threshold a little higher and watched with intrest as Clint let Bruce cry. Tony absently ran his fingers through Steve's hair as he kept an eye on the other two.

****


	5. Chapter 5

****

Bruce looked up from his samples as Tony settled across from him. "No pointy things today?"

Tony drummed his fingertips on the counter between them. "No. Well, maybe." Tony covered his mouth with one hand and gestured at Bruce with the other. "You know about JARVIS, right?"

Bruce put aside the sample he had in his hand. "Yes."

"I, ah, asked him to watch out for you. Give you warning...of pointy things."

His eyebrows shot up as he thought about it. "JARVIS warns you as well?"

"Well, when he's not sure if he should interrupt you, yeah, he gives me an alert. And I...pulled video up." Tony waved his hands around. "There's a code input, it isn't like I can just get video of the..."

"Tony."

Tony snapped his mouth shut.

Bruce leaned forward and rested his arms on the counter between them. "You watched Clint and I have sex."

Tony nodded. "You were close to Hulk out and I didn't want to piss you off. I kept watch on the data and video only, no audio." Tony pinged a screen next to them and it bloomed the vitals from the night before. "You went over the previously recorded levels. I upped the alert threshold so JARVIS shouldn't ping me again for just sex."

"Wait, wait." Bruce scrolled through the stats. "I went into the red?" He tapped on the spot. "When was this?"

Tony lifted his eyebrows. "You aren't mad?"

Bruce glanced at him as a small box appeared next to the data asking for an access code. "I'd be more mad if you didn't have safeties in place." He frowned as his code wasn't accepted. "I don't know what Clint will think of you being a voyeur, but I'm not terribly surprised."

Tony grinned and input his codes to get the video up. "In that case, can I ask something?"

"I might not answer, but go ahead." Bruce watched his reactions in time with the vitals.

"Why did you cry?"

Bruce looked up from his screen. "After?"

"Yeah." Tony grimaced. "You don't have to talk about it."

"That's alright." With a shake of his head, Bruce marked a couple of spots on the data stream. "I was overwhelmed. We're talking years, Tony."

"Oh." Tony stared across the lab as he thought. "Do you think..."

"I think you should just take Steve to bed." Bruce sat back. "Oh...ah, sorry."

Tony grinned. "Nope, no take-backs." He poked at the data stream. "I'm no good for him."

"You are probably more brash than he's used to, but then again...He was Army, Tony. In the middle of a world war. I think he'd rather do things straight forwardly."

Tony nodded and wondered away deep in thought.

****

Bruce slipped into a seat behind Clint's back as he and Natasha played a video game. "What is this?"

Natasha smiled at him and hit the pause button. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." She stood up and stretched. "I'll bring back jerky for Bruce, what do you want Clint?"

"Some M&M's, please."

She nodded and headed out of the room.

Clint held out a control to Bruce. "Want to play with us?"

"I don't know what I'm doing."

Clint shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We'll tell you where to go when there isn't an arrow to follow onscreen. You just bash stuff. Even us. Though, Nat will shove you off the couch if you shove her character off a cliff on purpose."

"Okay." Bruce took the controller. "I, uh, thought you should know..."

Clint lolled his head to look at Bruce. "What, about Tony trying to help?"

"He watched..."

Clint nodded. "Doesn't bother me." He looked at Bruce. "Does it bother you?"

"No...well, not from just him." Bruce rubbed at the back of his neck. "How does Natasha know I eat jerky?"

"Only source of meat you were willing to touch in some of the places you stayed." Clint shrugged. "You are resigned to being watched, that doesn't make you okay with it."

"Tony had codes in place." Bruce accepted the jerky from Natasha as she came back. "He didn't just have it where anyone can see it."

Natasha sat a bowl of candy down between Clint and herself. "This about the Hulk alert system?"

Bruce blinked. "You know about it?"

She shrugged. "Tony asked Pepper, who asked me, about how to make it so it wouldn't irritate you, but would keep Coulson's blood pressure down."

"Oh." Bruce frowned. "Tony is just so cavalier about video."

Natasha quit them to the main screen and put them into the character selection menu. "No, he isn't."

Bruce looked down at his controller looking for the movement buttons. "What do you mean?"

"It all looks carefree. Tony will make you think he's libel to put things up on the internet in a heartbeat." She grinned as Bruce picked the Cheshire Cat. "You know where the video goes?"

"No." Bruce waited as Clint picked Tron and then Natasha took them to the world selection screen.

"The same server that holds JARVIS' main systems. The one that's buried below the Arc Reactor under this Tower." She selected the Alice in Wonderland world. "It is the most protected server he has here."

"Oh." Bruce quit thinking about it as he tried to figure out which button let him hit things.

****

Phil was too tired to be nervous. Which was good because Steve had spent the last hour asking Phil all sorts of questions that normally would have had him tongue tied. "Cheating."

Steve patted his hand. "Yes, a bit." He leaned in and smiled winningly at Phil. "You are more relaxed on medication."

"True."

Steve looked down at his hands. "You protected Tony for a time?"

Phil smiled. "He's an ass with a huge heart." He blinked and frowned. "Wow, don't tell him I said that."

Steve smiled. "I won't. I promise."

With a small grunt, Phil shifted. "What do you want to really know?"

"When Tony was kidnapped did they..." Steve frowned. "Did they rape him?"

Phil lifted his eyebrows. "Wow, now I see why you asked me this while I am softened up." He shook his head. "We don't think so, but it was months. He wouldn't debrief other than to ask me to try to recover a body from the caves."

"He flinches from some things." Steve frowned. "I don't want to hurt him, Phil."

"I know for sure he was water-boarded while hooked to a car battery before he made himself the small reactor."

"Oh." Steve ran his hand down Phil's arm. "Tell me everything you know, please."

Later, Steve was still shaking from the idea of Tony in that sort of situation, because Tony was right about not being a soldier. Steve's training had been minimal, but he'd gotten a class on torture and its affects. Steve stepped into the elevator and frowned as it froze between two floors.

"Captain Rogers."

Steve backed into a corner and addressed the ceiling since JARVIS sounded more serious than Steve had heard before. "JARVIS."

"What are your plans regarding my creator?"

Steve blinked. "Oh, you heard me talking to Phil. Right." He patted the wall for lack of something of JARVIS to touch. "I'm not going to hurt him intentionally. That's why I was talking to Agent Coulson. I needed to know where the traps are so I don't trip one on accident."

There was a momentary pause and then the elevator started moving again. "I have video footage you should be aware of as well."

Steve patted the wall one last time. "Thank you very much, JARVIS."

****

Tony looked at the list of minor alerts. "You cornered him in the elevator?"

"I simply ascertained his intentions, Sir."

Tony snorted. "Okay, fine, but remember what we talked about, JARVIS. No preemptive killing."

"Of course, Sir."

With a lopsided grin, Tony flicked through the rest of the alerts. "Did you show him...ah, yeah. How'd he take the thing with Obi?"

"I believe he would kill Stane if given the opportunity. He asked me to reassure him as to your vitals afterwards, sir."

"Uh." Tony nodded. "Good to know." He went still. "I trust you, J. If you think we shouldn't try..." Tony frowned as he trailed off.

"I estimate there is a 94% chance of success of the proposed relationship."

Tony blinked. "Wait, which relationship? You mean Bruce and Clint?"

"I do not, sir."

"Well, okay then. What do you give for their odds?"

"Currently, there is a 96% chance of success."

Tony nodded. "Not bad, JARVIS. Pull up that necklace for the Hulk." He worked on the communications necklace until Steve settled a plate of food beside his elbow. "Hey."

"Hi, Tony." Steve sat down next to him and looked at what he was doing. "What is that?"

Tony flicked the parts back into a whole model. "Communications for the Hulk. Make it a loose choker for him, which is big enough to go over Bruce's head. That way he can hear us, we can hear him, tracking, and SOS beacon all built in."

Steve touched a spot where the wiring wasn't going through. "What is this part?"

"Emergency breakaway." Tony grabbed the model and pulled. "It won't just come loose for anything, but if he needs to the Hulk can get it off." The model pulled apart and showed the stats it would require. "I haven't talked to Bruce about it yet."

"I think he'll like it." Steve touched Tony's shoulder. "You about ready to sleep?"

"Hmm?" Tony looked away from the model. "Uh, no?" He frowned and poked the model. "Well, no, maybe. Sure." Tony clapped his hands together. "Fabricate that, JARIVS. Time estimate?"

"Right away, sir. Estimate is four hours."

Tony nodded and turned towards Steve. "It'll take a while for the outer-coating of fiber to be woven."

"Then you have time to sleep before you talk to Bruce." Steve stood up. "Come on."

"That wasn't..."

"Please, Tony."

Tony mentally shrugged and followed along after Steve.

****


	6. Chapter 6

****

Tony blinked as Steve climbed into his bed. "What?"

Steve smiled at him, that wide happy smile that Tony secretly adored. "You'll get back up if I leave you alone. This way I know you at least stayed in bed."

Tony wiggled his toes as Steve snuggled up to his side. "Huh. Okay." He slipped his arm under Steve's shoulder. "I think I'm dreaming."

"Sure, Tony." Steve eased Tony onto his side, facing towards Steve. "Just keep dreaming. Close your eyes, alright?"

Tony hummed and closed his eyes. He was almost asleep when he tried to jerk upright. "JARVIS! I need..." He frowned as he pulled on the arm threaded under Steve's shoulder. "I need something."

Steve soothed him back down under the covers. "You need to sleep. We'll talk to Bruce once you've slept, okay?"

Tony pushed his forehead into Steve's chest. "Okay." He fell asleep as Steve petted his hair.

****

Bruce eased Clint into a more comfortable position as Phil watched from his hospital bed. "He seems to think we should try talking to the Hulk."

Phil set aside the paperwork he was slowly going through between naps. "That is a low priority item, but yes, it is something that needs to be attempted.

Bruce sat down in the chair next to Phil's bed. "You too?"

Phil gave him a look. "The Hulk is intelligent. He hasn't had an opportunity to be heard. The attempt should be within your comfort level, Doctor Banner, not something you've allowed Clint to talk you into."

With a frown, Bruce adjusted the way he was sitting. "I've been thinking about it. I said no right off, but..." He made a face. "He caught Tony. He listened to Steve's orders." Bruce frowned down at his hands. "He aslo tried to kill Agent Romanoff and punched Thor hard enough to send him into a wall twenty feet away."

"He didn't kill her, though." Phil thumbed through his pile and pulled out a report. "Natasha reported that the Hulk hesitated as he raised his hand to deliver a backhanded hit once he saw her face clearly. He had just started to relax his stance when Thor blew through the wall and knocked the Hulk out of the room." He rubbed at his chest. "Doctor, I don't believe that the Hulk would have killed her."

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, it's nice you can think that. He's...dangerous."

"So am I." Phil grinned. "Normally at least." He pointed at Bruce. "You are dangerous as you are now. Clint is dangerous. Stark is more dangerous than all of us combined. Hulk included."

Bruce broke into a laugh for a minute and then he rubbed his chin with his hand. "So, you think talking to him is a good idea?"

"Yes." Phil raised his eyebrows. "Not right now. I'd rather be able to stand up went I first meet him."

Bruce snorted as he nodded.

****

Tony frowned as he woke up. Steve was snoring lightly with his arm flung across Tony's stomach. Tony's left arm was asleep, trapped under Steve. Tony blinked and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. "JARVIS, how was my sleep pattern?"

"I recorded a 98% sleep efficiency, Sir."

"Huh." Tony stroked his fingertips across Steve's shoulder and down his arm that laid across Tony's stomach. "No nightmares."

****

Bruce turned over the necklace as Tony jabbered about what it was supposed to do. He nodded as he listened with half an ear. 

Clint took the necklace out of Bruce's hand and knocked it on the tabletop. "Is it active before Bruce transforms?"

"No." Tony grinned gleefully as he pulled up a diagram. "I've got it set so that it will wait for a transformation before powering on to transmit unless Bruce turns it on himself. Once on it won't turn off until it is put in the base unit we'll leave in here somewhere."

"This that so someone can't make him turn it off?" Steve popped a grape into his mouth.

"Partly." Tony flicked the diagram into another view. "See, I figure if Bruce has shrunk back down either he's safe or the mission is over, but just in case he's captured or something I don't want to lose positioning just because he's not green."

Bruce slipped the unit over his head. "This isn't heavy at all, Tony. The other guy will have it apart in seconds."

"Nah." Tony tugged on it lightly. "It is the toughest stuff I can get woven in with the fiber-matrix I'm using on the armor. It isn't prefect, yet, but it'll do for a first unit." He pointed at Bruce. "I need to show Hulk how to get it off in an emergency though."

Bruce shook his head. "Oh, no. Tony..."

Tony held up a hand. "Before you say no think about it. I've got plenty of testing land that we can go out into. He liked us enough to play tidily-winks with Clint using rubble while Thor put chains on Loki. I don't figure that will have changed in a couple of months, Bruce."

"Tidily-winks?" Bruce turned his head to stare at Clint.

Clint shrugged. "We would have played tic-tac-toe, but he said no to anything that could tie."

Bruce rubbed the side of his face. "How much space, Tony?"

"Depends. You want surrounded by ocean or middle of the desert?"

****

Phil gingerly sat on a rock with Clint and Natasha hovering like the mother hens they were. He watched Bruce fret as Tony, in his armor, tried to joke with him. 

Captain Rogers settled next to them with his shield. "I wish Thor could be here. He and Hulk need to bond too."

Phil was happy he wasn't actually since that would mean more people here that had fought with or annoyed the Hulk. "We will do this again. I'm certain he will be here eventually."

Steve nodded. "Yeah." He hefted his shield. "Hopefully without an alien invasion as a catalyst."

Phil nodded. He leaned into Nat a little as Bruce stripped out of his shirt. "You alright?"

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "I'm fine."

Clint stood up and stepped between them and Bruce as he started to transform. Tony stood right in front of Bruce with his faceplate up.

The Hulk huffed as soon as he was done transforming and he cocked his head as he touched the choker around his neck.

"Hey there, Hulk. I'm Tony, you remember me, yeah?"

Hulk snorted as he ran a fingertip between his neck and the chocker. "Hulk remember." He pointed at Tony. "Spaceman in tin can."

Tony smirked. "The armor is a bit more than a tin can, but, yeah, more or less." He stepped towards the Hulk. "The thing around your neck is from me. I gave it to Bruce for you to have."

Hulk's eyebrows bunched together and he turned towards the rest of them. He smiled at Clint. "Cupid."

Clint adjusted how his quiver was sitting on his back. "Sure, I can live with that. Hi, Hulk. I want you to meet a friend of mine."

Hulk shifted on his feet as Phil stood up and smoothed his tie down.

"Mr. Hulk." Phil looked calmly up into the Hulk's uncertain expression. "Thank you for your assistance in battling the invasion of New York. You were very helpful in saving the world."

Hulk blinked twice and then knelt down so his eyes were level with Phil's. "Army?"

Phil let his stance relax slightly. "No. I'm a SHEILD agent. My name is Agent Phil Coulson."

Hulk looked from Clint to Phil and back again. "Cupid, SHEILD too?"

Clint nodded. "So is Natasha." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards Natasha where she stood with Captain Rogers.

Hulk looked at her and then he grinned at Rogers. "Smash?"

Steve shook his head. "Not today, Hulk."

Tony patted Hulk's forearm. "Actually, buddy, I've got some junk about a half-mile from here you can smash. We need to test the necklace and see if it works right."

Hulk touched the choker and frowned at Tony. "Hurt Hulk?"

Tony shook his head. "No, no. It'll let you hear us while you smash." He flipped his faceplate down. "Here, I'll show you." Tony took off and flew up.

Hulk craned his neck to watch Tony shrink to a tiny dot.

Then the chocker emitted Tony's voice. "Can you hear me, Hulk?"

Hulk frowned up at the dot that was Tony and then turned the choker around on his neck. "How Hulk say yes?"

"Just talk, buddy. I can hear you."

Hulk grinned. "Yes, Hulk hear Failed Spaceman."

"Hey. Just call me Ironman."

Hulk turned his head and grinned at Phil. "No."

Phil bit the inside of his cheek as Hulk and Tony argued about what to call Tony. Then Tony gave Hulk directions to the pile of surplus Army supplies that he'd brought out into the desert for Hulk to smash.

Phil sat back down as soon as Hulk had bounded away from them. Captain Rogers jogged in the direction he'd gone. Natasha followed more slowly. Phil looked up as Clint settled down beside him.

"Okay?"

Phil nodded. "I'm fine." He lifted his chin in the direction of the Hulk's happy roaring. "He was teasing Stark."

"Yeah." Clint smiled as he pulled Phil in to lean against his shoulder. "I really think Bruce is in there."

"The Hulk is ignoring Natasha much in the way Bruce is avoiding her."

Clint nodded. "Bruce will interact with her if there's a third person in the room. I think he's just worried about scaring her."

"Hmm." Phil watched as Hulk landed in front of them with shreds of metal in his hands, the choker still in place. "Mr. Hulk."

Hulk crouched down in front of them and put the metal down. He held out his huge hand. "Agent."

Phil leaned forward and set his hand in the Hulk's palm. "Yes?"

Hulk put the thumb of his other hand across Phil's wrist and looked at it closely. "Agent small like Failed Spaceman?"

"Mr. Stark's wrists are nearly the same size as mine. Why?"

Hulk let Phil's hand slip from his and then he plopped back on his butt and started bending the metal he'd brought with him. "Hulk wanted to know."

Phil and Clint exchanged looks as Tony landed near them.

"Hey, buddy, are you done smashing?"

Hulk grunted as he kept twisting the metal he hand in his hands. "Hulk smash."

Tony flipped the faceplate up. "Smash more now or smash more later?"

With a huff, Hulk turned his back towards Tony so Tony couldn't see his hands. "Later. Hulk busy."

"Wow. Okay." Tony pulled the helmet off and then sat down next to Clint and Phil. "You know what he's doing?"

Phil could barely see the Hulk's work from where he'd turned his body sideways to them. "Making something."

Clint nudged Tony with his elbow. "Cap and Nat?"

"Busy looking over the wreckage and seeing if anything needs more smashing."

Hulk hunched his shoulders. "Hulk busy."

"I know. You said. It doesn't need to be now. They are just looking to see how much stuff I need to bring out for you for next time."

Hulk turned his head towards them. "Smash again?"

"Yeah, buddy. That's why I was asking if you were done for now." Tony smiled at him. "You can come smash whenever you want. Bruce might like a heads up or something though."

"Bruce puny." Hulk turned back to what he was making in his hands.

Tony frowned and glanced at Phil, who shrugged. "You called Loki puny too. What's that mean?"

"Puny is puny." Hulk reached out his hand towards Phil again. "Hand?"

Phil stood, went over, and put his hand in the Hulk's and watched as Hulk measured with his thumbnail across Phil's wrist. Hulk grinned at him and let his hand go. Phil sat back down.

Tony leaned forward so he could see Phil around Clint. "Bonding, Agent?"

Hulk shifted around so he was facing them again. "Hulk like Agent."

Tony smiled wide. "Wow, see, I told Bruce you were awesome."

Hulk snorted and held out his closed fist towards Tony. "For Failed Spaceman no metal time."

Tony held out his hand and stared at the twisted metal bracelet Hulk dropped into his hand. "No metal time? You mean when I'm not in the armor, don't you?" He looked up at Hulk looking down at him. "Thanks. This is..." Tony looked down at the bracelet. "Awesome. This is the best present anyone has gotten me in a long time, Hulk. Thank you."

With a nod, Hulk stood up. "Hulk tell Liar Hulk will not smash her." Then he bounded off.

Phil plucked the bracelet out of Tony's hand and turned it over. The Hulk had smoothed the ragged edges and twisted the metal around and around into it looked a lot like a rope.

****

Clint let Bruce rest against him as Steve brought over Bruce's shirt. "You did great, Bruce."

Bruce took the shirt with shaky fingers. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"No." Clint helped him get his arms through the shirt sleeves. "Hulk liked the necklace. He smashed some junk for Tony and made him a bracelet. Gave everyone a nickname. Told Nat he wouldn't smash her and then he curled around Phil and me to take a nap and turned back into you."

"Really?" Bruce rubbed at his hair. "I don't..." He stopped as he winced. "Oh. He talked."

"Yeah, regular chatterbox." Clint leaned his head against Bruce's. "Why does he call you puny?"

Bruce flinched and pulled away from Clint. "I don't...He did?"

"Yeah." Clint stroked his hand down Bruce's back. "Tony asked Hulk and all he said was puny was puny."

Bruce nodded. "I, uh, had problems with my father."

Clint made an encouraging noise and kept moving his hand up and down Bruce's back.

"Lots of problems." Bruce wrapped his arms around himself. "He was...as close to pure evil as someone could get. He did..." Bruce swallowed. "...things to me."

Clint bent his neck to put his forehead on the tip of Bruce's shoulder. "You don't have..."

"Yes, I do. He can't hurt me now." Bruce grabbed Clint's free hand and pulled it into his lap. He traced the calluses on Clint's hand. "He beat us. Called us names. He mostly called me puny or a monster." 

Clint held himself still except for the hand circling on Bruce's back.

"I don't think he ever saw me as related to him." Bruce shrugged. "The other guy probably thinks I'm just as useless as my father did."

"No." Clint eased Bruce down against him again. "I'll make sure to ask him next time, but that's not what I think he means."

"Next time?" Bruce tried to push back up, but eventually relaxed against Clint. "Why am I so tired?"

"You spent five hours bounding around a desert and playing fetch with Cap's shield."

Bruce struggled to keep his eyes open. "Fetch? You crazy people got the Hulk to play fetch?"

Clint soothed him with kiss to his temple. "We'll show you video once we get home."

****

Tony settled across from Phil after checking on the pilots and then on Clint and Bruce in his bedroom. The takeoff was smooth and they were cruising in short order. Further back in the plane, Steve was tense and Nat's attempts to distract him with scrabble seemed to be working.

Phil blinked sleepily up at Tony as he pulled out a tablet. "Aren't you tired, Stark?"

Tony looked up at him. "Sometimes, Agent. You look like you need to sleep."

"I do." Phil pushed himself more upright. "Are you alright?"

Tony frowned. "You ever wonder if an event broke something in you? Broke it so badly there was no fixing it?"

Phil raised his eyebrows. "What are you worrying about having broken, Tony?"

"I wasn't trying to make you worry." Tony sighed and put his tablet down. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"I worry about you anyway. What has you concerned?"

Tony frowned and then moved to sit next to Phil. "Steve is doing things for me. Brings me food and makes me sleep in a real bed. Stuff, you know?"

Phil nodded and waited to see where this was going.

"I...I know what he wants. I can tell." Tony shrugged. "It isn't like it isn't hard to see, but the thing is..." Tony leaned back and stared at the far wall. "I don't get aroused anymore."

Phil watched Tony's expression flit through various emotions. "Sexually?"

"Yeah." Tony clasped his hands over his arc reactor. "It is too much work or something. I get so tired." Tony pressed his lips together. "Steve needs someone that isn't broken."

"You can afford some hefty therapy, Tony. Talking to me isn't going to convince you that you aren't broken."

Tony snorted. "No." He fiddled with the bracelet the Hulk had given him. "I'm broke inside. I get that. I just..." He turned his head to look Phil in the eye. "You're Agent. And you are my favorite one."

"Ah." Phil nodded. "Alright. So, you don't get aroused by anything?"

"Not even watching Bruce and Clint did anything for me." Tony squeezed his finger and thumb against the sides of his bracelet. "Before...I would have pulled Bruce into the nearest room with a bed. I still find him really sexy, but just no bodily reaction, you know?"

"Yes." He checked Nat and Steve with a small turn of his head. They were absorbed with their game so Phil turned back to Tony. "You find Steve sexy as well?"

Tony's smile bordered on dreamy. "He's the height of human perfection." He smiled wider. "And he cares about me. Not my money or who my father was, but actually me. He even got JARVIS worried enough to give him the shovel speech."

Phil rubbed the bridge of his nose. "JARVIS gives shovel talks?"

"First time for everything." Tony leaned his head back against the couch. "Why can't I just make my body do what I want?"

"Bodies don't work that way in regards to trauma." Phil thought about it for a few minutes. "Have you cut back on alcohol?"

"Yeah, since I'm not actively dying now." Tony flapped one hand. "Nothing is medically wrong with my body."

"Okay." Phil looked at Tony. "Reactions to trauma are complex things."

"Yeah." Tony pointed towards the room he'd given to Clint and Bruce. "Some people's reactions smash whole cities."

"If you don't want to talk about it just go away, Tony. Don't deflect."

"Hm." Tony crossed his ankles. "No deflecting, got it. Go on."

"Thank you." Phil rubbed at his chest. "Do you feel safe?"

"What?"

"Do you feel safe?" Phil watched Tony frowned and think it over. "The reason I'm asking is because you have been violated." He shook his head as Tony started to protest. "I'm not saying raped. I'm saying violated. Your home at the time, your trust, your freedom of movement, and even to some extent your body were all invaded or curtailed."

Tony nodded. "I'm fine now though."

"Sure." Phil shot his hand out and wrapped his fingers around Tony's closer wrist and held on. 

Tony flinched and froze staring down at their hands.

"That's not feeling safe, Tony." Phil let go of Tony's hand and pulled back. "You've let your home now be invaded by a bunch of people who have varying degrees of training in harming people."

Tony frowned. "What does that have to...oh."

"Yes." Phil let his eyes slip closed. "Trust is hard, but worthwhile."

****

Tony watched Phil sleep as he thought about what the agent had said. It explained why he was more of an insomniac than before the kidnapping. He'd chalked it up to being about to die, but now he was even worse than before he'd refound his Dad's element.

Tony flipped his tablet on and checked through the data from the Hulk's afternoon of fun. The force he exerted when he was just playing was enough to stress test anything Tony's company had ever invented. Bored with numbers, Tony pulled up the footage from the armor showing the Hulk and Steve playing fetch with Cap's shield.

****

Natasha helped settle a nearly asleep Bruce into his and Clint's bed. "Just sleep, Doc."

He muttered as he rolled onto his stomach and pulled the pillow more under his head. Clint grinned at him as he settled next to Bruce's hip and ran his fingers through Bruce's hair.

"Are you content?"

Clint looked up sharply at her words. "He's awesome, Nat." He stood and came around the bed to crawl in on his side. "You want to sleep here?"

She nodded and waited for him to settle against Bruce before slipping in beside him. Nat snuggled up to Clint's side and settled her head on his chest. "Why did this exhaust him more than the battle?"

"I think it was because the Hulk wasn't just angry." Clint kissed the top of her head. "Bruce was really worried about what he'd do when he saw you."

"I know." She put her fingertips on Bruce's arm. "Do you think Hulk will change his name for me?"

"Lair is a pretty good name, Nat. Better than Stupid Puppet that he called Sitwell when he showed up."

She smiled a little at that. "You don't mind being called Cupid?"

Clint hummed and pulled the covers up her back. "I think it is cool the Hulk knows enough to connect a cupid to me. It makes me wonder how much he and Bruce share of their memories."

She pulled her fingers back to trace patterns on Clint's chest. "After Bruce wakes up to us in the morning we may find out next time he changes."

Clint pulled them closer and smiled as Bruce mumbled in his sleep. "He already told you it was fine to sleep here when you need."

She smiled with her mouth closed and put her chin on Clint's chest. "He is hard to read, Clint."

Clint stared at the ceiling as he stroked his thumb down Nat's arm until she went to sleep. Then he tipped them both more towards the middle so they tangled arms across his chest. Clint smiled as he watched them sleep until he joined them.

****


	7. Chapter 7

****

Bruce came awake and stared at the mop of red hair in front of his nose. Pulling back a little, Bruce blinked as he realized he and Natasha were sharing Clint's chest for a pillow. Bruce rolled more onto his back and smiled as Clint's hand grasped Bruce's shoulder before going slack again.

Staring up at the ceiling, Bruce thought about the memories he'd gotten from the desert. "He played fetch." Bruce shook his head and turned his head as the mop of red hair moved. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

Natasha sat up with a shrug. "Not a problem, Bruce." She looked at him over Clint's sleep limp body. "You don't mind."

He raised an eyebrow. "I told you all you have to do is knock if we're having sex."

She gave him a tiny smile and slipped from the bed. "What people say and what happens do not always match up."

"Well, now you know for this it matches up."

She pulled the covers up around Clint and him. "I do. Go back to sleep if you can, Bruce."

He watched her slip out of their room and Clint rolled more towards him as the warmth from her spot faded. Bruce buried his face in Clint's neck and let himself go back to sleep.

****

Steve woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. "Wha..." He jerked and was reaching for his shield as the naked man in front of him held up his hands. Steve froze and stared.

"You are very hard to wake, Captain Rogers."

Steve rubbed his eyes and kept staring. "JARVIS?"

Jarvis looked down at himself and then back to Steve. "It would appear so. I would appreciate someone checking with Mr. Odinson to see if his brother has escaped."

Steve nodded and got up to get a pair of pants for Jarvis. "Tony is going to love this." Behind him Jarvis snorted. Steve started looking for his phone so he could call Tony.

****

Tony poked Jarvis' arm. "Seriously?" He'd already checked the server and the connections. He'd pinged everything he'd ever let JARVIS hack or touch and had finally admitted that this human in front of him was his AI. Personified in the worse possible way. "This is my life? Really?"

Jarvis gave him a look of destine. "Sir, I do believe this affects me more strongly than it does any state of your existence."

"Yeah." Tony rubbed his hand over his chin as he turned towards Steve. "I'm off the team, aren't I?"

Steve looked confused. "Off? Why?" He cocked his head as he looked at Jarvis. "Don't you have an older version or a copy?" He frowned. "No offense, Jarvis. I just figure that you can be two places if there's a back up that can help Tony run his armor."

Jarvis stepped carefully over to a terminal and looked down at it. "That was not offensive, Captain. I am regularly backed up."

Tony pulled up the file system and looked over the last backup. "If we initialize the backup it ought to come right online..." He glanced at the human Jarvis. "You sure, J?"

Jarvis looked up from the screen in front of him. "I am certain."

Steve settled his hand on Jarvis' shoulder and then pulled away as Jarvis shivered slightly at the touch. 

Tony hit several keys and glared at the screen. "Huh. It won't run." He looked up at Jarvis. "You still feel the same?"

Jarvis blinked and turned his head to look at Steve. "I am functional, sir. I do not understand the sensory input I am currently getting from this body and it is impeding optimal performance."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, bodies are distracting. You hungry yet, J?" He pointed at Jarvis' stomach. "Rumbles or feeling empty in the middle?"

Jarvis looked down at his stomach and then back to Tony. "I will attempt to eat when you do, sir."

Steve bit his lip. "He'll have you on a more regular schedule in no time, Tony."

Tony jabbed a key and glared at the screen harder. "Don't encourage him, Rogers."

****

Bruce ran his thumb down Jarvis' arm lightly. "You appear stable."

Jarvis nodded as he felt the fabric of his shirt with his fingers. "I am uncertain as to the proper functioning of this body." He looked up at Bruce. "You have raised Master Stark's efficiency rates since meeting him."

Bruce patted Jarvis' shoulder. "Thanks, Jarvis." He turned the screen so they could both see it better. "There is no indication as to how you ended up in a human body." He scratched his head. "It must be driving Tony mad."

Clint sat down across the desk from them. "I think Tony's waiting to see if he can drag Jarvis to bed."

Jarvis blinked as Bruce threw a paperclip at Clint.

"Clint."

With a shrug, Clint leaned forward to rest his arms on the desk. "Just saying. Tony loves Jarvis." He smiled at Jarvis. "He does, you know?"

"I do." Jarvis scrolled through the data on the screen. "Master Stark is more in love with Captain Rogers than myself, of course."

Bruce clapped a hand over his own mouth as Clint buried his head in his arms to laugh. "Jarvis, you can't just say things like that."

"Not to them, yes, I know." Jarvis frowned at his fingers. "This method of data input is terribly slow."

Clint slipped out as Jarvis and Bruce started talking about neural uplinks.

****

Clint found Steve in the gym, punching a heavy bag off it's hook. "Hey."

Steve looked up and stopped hitting the bad. "Hi." He pulled away from the bag and started un-untaping his hands. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Clint sat down next to Steve's bag. "Not really." He looked up at Steve. "You want a romantic sexual relationship with Tony, right?"

Steve froze with his second hand partially untaped. "Why do you ask?"

Clint leaned back against the wall behind the bench. "You asked Phil about Tony's past."

Steve resumed unwrapping his hand. "I did." He sat down next to Clint. "I do want more from Tony. I don't think Tony wants that though."

Clint shook his head. "Nah. I think he does. I know he's worrying Phil, so it isn't that he doesn't want you. I'm thinking Tony probably has hang ups from either his past behavior or abuse not listed in his file."

"There are things that make him flinch, Clint."

Clint nodded. "You have those too. Don't think I don't see how you'd much rather fall asleep with someone present."

Steve frowned. "This isn't about me."

"Sure it is." Clint poked him in the shoulder. "You are a person. Tony is a person. You each matter. Duh."

Steve smiled as he snorted. "Yeah, okay. I see your point."

"Good." Clint leaned into Steve's shoulder. "Take Jarvis and go pounce on Tony."

"What?" Steve leaned away and he could feel his face heating.

Clint grinned. "You do have a dirty mind. Phil owes me five bucks." He grabbed Steve's arm as he moved away. "No. Seriously, Cap." He kept pulling until Steve stopped. "You've been out of the ice long enough to find internet porn, right?"

Steve's blush deepened.

"Yeah, thought so." Clint patted Steve's shoulder. "Look, Cap, Tony isn't good at the stuff he really wants for himself. Not when it comes to people. He doesn't know what to do with you. With affection aimed towards him."

"That doesn't mean... _that_."

Clint smiled. "There are these things called kinks. Stuff like bondage, dominance, pain, lots of things." Clint nudged Steve's shoulder. "I'm thinking Tony's kinks have gone more towards cuddles and being held close and safe. Being safe. What's more safe than sleeping with Jarvis and you?"

Steve blinked. "The three of us?"

"Think about it." Clint stood up and stretched. "Tony won't reach for this unless you let him know you are okay with it."

****

Bruce let himself sink into the pillows on their bed. "You didn't."

Clint ran his fingertips across Bruce's bare skin. "I totally did." He leaned forward to kiss Bruce's nipple. "I think I blew Steve's mind though."

"Probably just a bit." Bruce cupped the back of Clint's head. "The back up version of Jarvis isn't talking."

"Tony said he didn't want to have them scold him in stereo. Took him a couple of hours to get the back up to run." Clint reached in a twisted the nipple he'd just kissed. "You want to keep talking, or did you want to try to have sex?"

Bruce arched into the pain. "Shit...Sex. Oh, definitely, sex." He pulled Clint's arm out from under him and collapsed him on top of Bruce's chest. "More of that, Agent Barton. Please."

Clint smiled and pinched Bruce's other nipple as he kissed his way down Bruce's body. "You want another blow job, or would you rather we try something more..." He pressed his fingertips into the back of Bruce's scrotum. "Involved?"

Bruce arched and came back down panting softly. "I..." He looked torn. "I want..." Bruce squeezed the back of Clint's neck. "Involved? I want...I can't promise that..."

Clint crawled back up Bruce's body and cupped the sides of his head. "Hey. I know, Bruce. I know what you can do. And I still want to fuck you. Okay? I'm totally willing to try. Even if we have to stop, that's okay. Completely okay."

Bruce nodded and squeezed the back of Clint's neck as he ran his other hand down Clint's spine to grab an ass cheek. "I used to like to hold my partner down and just thrust into them. Hold them so tight that they couldn't move. I...It was seductive, that feeling."

Clint smiled down at Bruce and gently wrapped his hand around the front of Bruce's throat. "We could try that. I'd feel safe with you doing the holding."

Bruce shook his head slightly. "No, no. I...Do it to me."

Clint rubbed his thumb up and down the side of Bruce's neck. "Hold you down? Put you right where I want you and just fuck you?"

Bruce let his eyes close as he took a shuddery breath. "Yes."

Clint knelt back and ran his hand from Bruce's neck clear down to wrap around Bruce's cock. "I can do that." Clint leaned in and kissed Bruce's hip as he began jacking Bruce's shaft. 

Bruce rocked his hips as he held onto Clint by the back of his neck. "Oh."

Clint smirked up at him and let go of Bruce. "Lube."

Bruce groaned as he flopped back on the bed. He squeezed Clint's neck. "Tease."

Clint shivered under his hand. "Nah. I deliver." He stroked lube along Bruce's ass crack until he reached Bruce's anus. Clint pressed lube in and worked the skin around the hole as Bruce shuddered and his hand on Clint's neck kneaded.

Pushing in more lube, Clint adjusted his position to better kneel between Bruce's legs. He pressed Bruce's legs out and Bruce hooked his free hand under the back of one knee and pulled the leg up and out. Clint leaned in and bit at Bruce's nipple as the hand on his neck went slack for a moment from Bruce losing focus.

Clint slipped on a condom and coated himself with more lube. He leaned in and pressed against Bruce's body. Bruce's eyes popped open as Clint started to ease into him with little hitched movements.

"Oh." Bruce's hand on the back of Clint's neck tightened. "No fingers?"

Clint grinned. "Don't always have to be cliche, Doc."

Bruce grinned and bucked as Clint wrapped a hand around his dick. "More."

Clint pressed in a little more firmly and eased more of his weight forward to rest on Bruce. "Inpatient man."

Bruce laughed and then gasped as Clint sank further in. Clint smiled and kissed Bruce's mouth as the hand on the back of his neck started to knead again.

Clint slowly worked his way into Bruce's body, reveling in the feel of Bruce relaxing by degrees. He kept shifting more of his weight slowly onto Bruce and grinned when Bruce's hand went slack again as he lost himself into the sensations Clint was giving him.

When he finally was in Bruce as far as possible, Clint held still for a moment to just look at the spaced-out face Bruce was making. Then, Clint smiled and pulled back fast. Bruce arched under him as Clint slammed back in. Bruce's hand clamped on Clint's neck and Clint watched the tone of Bruce's skin as he set a brutal pace.

Bruce twitched and arched, wiggling and rolling his hips as Clint fucked him. His hand on Clint's neck kneaded hard and Clint turned his head and bit at Bruce's leg where he was holding it out of the way.

Clint buried himself deep in Bruce before stopping to gasp for breath as underneath him Bruce whined. Clint wrapped his hand around Bruce's cock. "Feel me, Bruce?" He pulled firmly, digging his thumb into the head as he stroked up and down Bruce's shaft.

Bruce's hand clamped down and Bruce pulled them tighter together. "Oh. Uh, please." He jerked his hips. "Please...Clint...please."

Clint kissed the edge of Bruce's mouth and started fucking again. Steady, slower than before, but a pace Clint could keep going at for a while. 

Bruce moaned and his whole body shuddered. He wrapped his free leg around the back of Clint and pulled them tight to each other. Clint stilled his hand around Bruce's cock, but kept his thumb running over the head. 

Bruce's hand pulled Clint's head in against Bruce's neck. "Fuck. Please...Clint."

Clint kissed the side of Bruce's neck and then bit down.

Bruce arched hard, his hand on Clint's neck digging in and his body shuddering against Clint's as he orgasmed. Clint bit his neck again as Bruce's semen splashed both of them. Just as Bruce's aftershocks started, Clint rolled his hips and Bruce whimpered as Clint kept thrusting.

Clint bit him again as Bruce clamped down on Clint's dick. With a low moan, Clint pressed in as deep as he could to come. Bruce shuddered under him and Clint kissed Bruce's wrist as his hand slipped away from Clint's neck.

****

Bruce stood beside their bed on shaky legs. Clint was sleeping the post-sex sleep of the dead, even through Bruce cleaning them up. Bruce ran his fingertips down his sides and across his thighs to his knees. He'd felt even less out of control than the first time with Clint. Bruce ran his fingertips across the livid mark on the back of Clint's neck and trembled at the soft sigh that got him.

After checking his own vitals and washing Clint a second time, Bruce finally slipped back into bed.

"Done freaking out now?" Clint's voice was sleepy and hoarse.

"For now." Bruce let Clint wrap around him and he ran a fingertip across the back of Clint's neck. "Thank you."

Clint murmured into Bruce's skin and patted Bruce clumsily on the arm. "Sleep...now."

Bruce smiled and pulled the covers up more. "Yes. Sleep, Clint."

****


	8. Chapter 8

****

Clint sighed as Bruce stroked down his spine with a warm bare hand.

"Why aren't you afraid of what I can do?"

Clint hummed and reached behind him to touch Bruce's side just under his ribs. "Why should I be?"

Bruce huffed and stroked back up Clint's spine. "He...You could die, Clint." Bruce kissed Clint's shoulder blade. "It doesn't matter that the other guy has played nice a couple of times. He could still crush you in an instant."

"Tony is right."

Bruce frowned. "What?"

"You know that we tracked you, SHIELD did."

"Yes, I know that."

Clint pressed up into Bruce's hand when it paused at the base of Clint's neck. "How often has the Hulk been out and not been shot at by someone?"

Bruce stroked Clint's back as he thought. "I don't...Twice? Maybe."

"Did he randomly attack people then? Try to smash Tony or Natasha?"

Bruce laid down beside Clint. "What are you getting at?"

Clint cupped Bruce's jaw and gave him a little smile. "He likes smashing things, not people. You know he didn't hurt Betty or Tony. He asked Phil if he was Army." Clint patted Bruce's shoulder. "Hulk isn't going to smash me, Bruce."

Bruce looked perplexed for several moments before turning his face into the pillow under his head. "I can't trust that he...I'll not hurt you."

Clint moved over so he was resting against Bruce's side and kissed Bruce's temple. "You'll learn."

****

Tony looked up as Jarvis sat down next to him and leaned against Tony. "What...?"

"I am exhausted."

Tony frowned down at the top of Jarvis' head resting on his shoulder. "Get in a bed and sleep then."

Jarvis leaned more of his weight against Tony. "It is too much like an upgrade."

Tony flicked his open project into save mode and started shutting everything down. "I'm always there during upgrades. Anytime I have to shut you down."

Jarvis sighed. "I did not understand you could be completely absent until you were unreachable."

Tony froze. "When I was captive."

"Yes." Jarvis leaned back as Tony shot to his feet. "I did not intend to upset your emotional stability."

Tony pulled on Jarvis' arm. "Come on." He kept tugging until Jarvis stood up. Tony pulled Jarvis along by his elbow. "I taught you that I wasn't always going to be there."

"You explained that, yes." Jarvis allowed Tony to pull him along. "You, however, were always available by some means of communication."

Tony nodded as they got on the elevator. "And then I suddenly wasn't anymore."

Jarvis crowded against Tony's side. "Miss Potts attempted to explain on your fourth day of captivity."

Tony wrapped an arm around Jarvis and herded him out of the elevator towards Steve's suite of rooms. "How did you take that?"

Jarvis blinked. "I requested she send Colonel Rhodes to retrive you."

Tony snorted as he barged into Steve's living room. "Steve!"

****

Steve nearly ruined his current drawing when Tony hollered his name through his rooms. "What is it?" He quickly covered the drawing and moved to his kitchen sink to wash his hands.

Tony appeared in the doorway with Jarvis tight against his side. "Can I make you Jarvis' secondary operator?"

Steve blinked as he tried to work out what Tony meant. "Should I call Bruce and ask him what you just said?"

Tony rolled his eyes as he pushed Jarvis gently down into a chair at the kitchen table. "Jarvis needs a second focus if I die or end up in a coma or something equal stupid. Would you be that focus for him?"

Steve looked at Jarvis and then turned towards Tony. "Why does Jarvis need someone?"

Tony seemed to shrink in on himself. "Never mind."

Steve darted forward and caught Tony's sleeve as he started to turn away. "I'm not saying no, Tony. I'm saying explain it to me first."

"Oh." Tony sank into a seat next to Jarvis.

Steve poured coffee for them both and sat the mugs in front of them before sitting across from them. "Can you explain why Jarvis needs someone?"

Tony took a gulp of his coffee and sat the mug down with a thump. "There's always been someone Jarvis can look to for answers. I coded him to learn, Steve."

Jarvis sipped at the coffee and then frowned down at the mug. "Is this drink always bitter?"

Steve pushed the sugar bowl towards Jarvis. "Spoon in a little of this and see if it helps."

Tony pointed at the bowl. "See? This is what I mean. He's going to need help sometimes."

"Okay, but, Tony..." Steve wrinkled his nose. "You can't just pass him off like a worn out sweater."

"No, no." Tony heaped two more spoonfuls of sugar into Jarvis' cup after his half-spoonful. "He was never alone until I was..."

Jarvis touched Tony's shoulder. "I will explain, sir."

Tony leaned back in his chair and cradled his coffee mug to his chest. "Sure. Go ahead."

Jarvis turned towards Steve. "I had always been in contact with my creator. Each time I required restarting or upgrading I was not left alone."

Tony tilted his head towards Jarvis. "I usually talked to him the whole way through."

With a nod, Jarvis wrapped his hands around his mug. "Then, suddenly, I was advised by Stane that my creator would not be coming back and I should shut down."

Tony gasped and turned to stare at Jarvis. "What?"

Jarvis pressed his lips together. "He had the proper codes and he started a final shutdown sequence. He ordered Dum-E and the other robots to delete themselves." 

Tony touched Jarvis' arm. "Shit, J..."

"I sent an emergency text to Miss Potts, but received no timely response." Jarvis ran his fingertip around the top of his mug. "I assessed Stane expression and stance. I sent the robots into hibernation to conserve their power and moved all my processes to backup severs. I then allowed the main sever to show a shutdown log."

Tony looked helplessly at Steve.

Steve reached out to run his thumb across Jarvis' knuckles. "You did the right thing, Jarvis."

Jarvis pursed his lips and turned his head to look at Tony. "I believe now that I should have told you of Stane's actions once you returned."

Tony pushed his empty mug away from himself. "Why didn't you?"

Jarvis glanced at Steve and then looked down at his coffee. "You were not the creator I remembered. I was uncertain you were stable enough to know."

"Oh." Tony tapped his thumbs against the arc reactor. "Yeah, I can see that."

Steve nodded. "You were trying to protect Tony."

Jarvis nodded. "It was not until Miss Potts came to the house to make it ready for occupation again that I understood what might have been."

Tony frowned. "You were completely alone."

Jarvis looked at Steve. "I disobeyed a proper order and I did not inform my creator." He looked down at his hands. "I worried that I had become like the computer programs in the movies that humans fight so fiercely."

"No." Tony wrapped a hand around Jarvis' shoulder and looked at Steve. "You aren't evil, J. Right, Steve?"

Steve shook his head. "No, Jarvis. You were trying to survive and you were protecting Tony. That wasn't bad." He patted Jarvis' hand. "You need someone you can talk to, is that right?"

Jarvis looked towards Tony.

Tony squeezed Jarvis' shoulder. "Yeah. He writes his own code now. He just needs a friend."

Steve leaned back. "Why me?"

Tony sprang up and took his mug to the coffeepot. "You're you. You'd never hurt Jarvis."

Jarvis shook his head. "You are Master Stark's childhood hero. He knows you are capable of great feats."

Steve flinched and turned to look at Tony's hunched shoulders. "Really?"

Tony shrugged one shoulder. "Dad looked for you. He liked to talk if it was about you."

"Oh." Steve gently pried the mug from Jarvis' hands, went to the counter, and took Tony's mug away from him. "I'll protect Jarvis when you can't, Tony. Okay?"

Tony bit his lip as he nodded. "Okay."

Steve gently pushed Tony towards Jarvis. "Come on. Let's go sit down on the couch."

****

Bruce sat down near Phil as Clint fussed with the blanket around Phil's shoulders. Natasha shoved on Clint's shoulder until he settled between Phil and Bruce.

"Phil picks first." Clint sprawled and put his legs across Bruce's lap and his head on Phil's thigh. "He likes to be Tron."

Phil took the controller Natasha handed him. "He's easy to see against the Pirates of the Caribbean stage."

Natasha handed controllers to Bruce and Clint before setting down on the floor by Phil's feet. "I want Captain Jack Sparrow."

Bruce took the Cheshire Cat as Clint ran through all the unlocked options. "If my character pushes Phil's off a cliff does Phil push me off the couch?"

Phil huffed out a laugh as Natasha thumped Bruce's shin. "I don't retaliate in the real world, Doctor."

Bruce nodded as the game loaded. "You'll just kill my character."

Clint grinned up at him. "He'll kill you until he gains a level. It's awesome to watch him do it to Nat."

Bruce laughed even as Natasha's character killed his.

****


	9. Chapter 9

****

Steve eased Tony down beside Jarvis and settled on the other side of Tony. Steve reached behind Tony's shoulders to pull Jarvis in so he could rest against Tony's side. "You both look tired."

Tony looked confused as Jarvis curled up against Tony. "I'm fine."

Jarvis yawned. "You are not. You haven't slept properly since I was transformed."

Tony glanced at Steve they sank more together as the cushions settled under them. "I've been working."

Steve brushed his hand down Jarvis' arm. "I thought Bruce said Jarvis is stable."

Tony yawned behind his hand. "He is. I just...J shouldn't have to suffer, you know?"

Steve nodded and sat quietly, listening to the other two drift off. Jarvis kept jerking awake and looking franticly around until he focused on Tony. Steve eased his way out of their tangle. "Jarvis."

Jarvis blinked slowly and patted Tony's side. "He's okay?"

Steve gently pushed Jarvis back and hefted Tony. "He's fine. Can you follow me?"

Jarvis nodded, he wavered when he got to his feet, but he stayed upright as long as he had a hand on Steve.

Going slowly, Steve lead them into his bedroom and settled Tony under the covers after removing his shoes. Steve steered Jarvis to sit and got his shoes off. With a gentle push, Steve got Jarvis into bed next to Tony.

Steve added another blanket onto the bed since he'd noticed that Jarvis' skin was cool. Then he climbed in beside them and snuggled Jarvis into Tony's side. Jarvis shivered and tucked his face into Steve's neck.

"I have never understood sleeping."

Steve soothed Jarvis and Tony huffed as he wrapped an arm across Jarvis to pull at Steve's shirt. "It just is, Jarvis. I promise you'll wake up. I'll be right here, making sure you keep... functioning, okay?"

Jarvis yawned and pressed his nose into Steve's skin. "Tony has many things he wants to do with you."

Steve smiled as he blushed and pulled the covers tighter around them. "I'm sure he has a good imagination."

Jarvis made an amused sounding noise before dropping into a light snoring sound. Steve tucked Jarvis' cold hands against his stomach to help warm him up.

****

Bruce woke to find himself wrapped in Clint and Phil with Natasha perched at the end of the bed. "We need a bigger bed."

Natasha laughed and helped Bruce extract himself from the bed. "You are entirely too zen about this."

Bruce raised an eyebrow as he headed for the bathroom. "You'd rather I have an incident?"

With a shake of her head, Natasha ran her fingers over Phil's neck and across the visible skin of Phil's back. "I'd rather understand."

Bruce held up a finger. "Just a minute." He waited for her nod and closed the bathroom door.

When he came back out, Bruce nudged Natasha into the position he'd vacated. "What's bothering you?"

Natasha frowned. "It isn't...bothering." She grimaced and stroked a thumb over Clint's chin. "They sleep through me doing this. I can just touch them." She looked up at Bruce. "I could kill them in an instant, but they still let me touch them."

Bruce nodded. "They trust you."

She pursed her lips. "You do it too." She flapped a hand towards him. "You didn't even wake when I wrapped my hand around your neck." Natasha frowned. "You muttered and batted at me, but you didn't..." She shrugged as she looked down.

Bruce followed Natasha's fingers across Phil's skin with his own fingertips. "I, ah...feel...safer here." Bruce touched the tip of his fingers to Natasha's hand. "I don't feel like the other guy is just under my skin. More like he's...content." Bruce scratched his head. "Maybe playing fetch mellows him?"

Natasha snorted and then started to giggle.

Bruce laid down other the other side of Clint from Natasha. "Just don't hit me in my sleep, alright?"

She nodded seriously and snuggled into Phil's shoulder before going still.

Bruce smiled when Phil cracked open his eyes and gave Bruce a tiny grin.

****

Tony rubbed the side of his face as he wondered into the common area's kitchen to get coffee that wasn't made to a soldier's taste. He blinked when he saw Mjolnir sitting on the kitchen counter. "Huh." Tony pulled up a report log and nodded to himself. "Hey, JARVIS-backup, you can tell me when someone arrives. I just don't want you scolding me when Jarvis does."

"Yes, sir."

Tony huffed and got himself a cup of coffee. He studied the war hammer as he did. "You'd think Thor would have a no weapons on the food preparation surfaces rule or something." Tony picked up Mjolnir and raised his eyebrows at the lightness. "Weird."

Tony took Mjolnir along as he went in search of Thor. He found most everyone in a common living room with Thor hugging everyone. Tony froze in the doorway trying to decide if he could get out of being hugged or if he'd just have to endure it.

Bruce spotted him. "Morning, Tony."

Everyone else turned and as Clint saw him he fell down onto his butt. Tony automatically stepped forward and stopped again as Natasha's half-shocked, half-pleased expression caught his eye.

"What?" Tony handed Thor his hammer and looked at Clint. "What was that? Did you just trip over your own feet? Really?"

Clint just kept staring, shifting his focus from Tony to the war hammer, and back again.

Phil appeared at Tony's shoulder and nudged him towards the couch. "Are you completely awake?"

Tony took a gulp of coffee as he sat down. "Maybe." He pointed at Thor. "Could you not put weapons on the kitchen counters? It's gross."

Thor nodded. "Of course. My apologies, Tony."

Tony nodded and covered a yawn. He frowned at them all still staring at him. "What?"

Clint touched his knee. "You don't know."

Tony looked around and nodded towards Bruce, who looked bewildered. "What are we talking about?"

Natasha settled beside him on the couch. "Thor's hammer can only be picked up by those who are worthy."

"What?" Tony looked around at all of them again before looking at Phil. "What?"

Phil shrugged. "It was in your packet."

Tony rubbed his eyes. "I thought that was about Thor's daddy being pissed at him. You mean that's all the time?" He frowned and narrowed his eyes at Thor. "Then how did I just pick that up?"

Thor smiled. "You are worthy of Mjolnir." His expression fell as Tony curled in on himself. "Is that not a good thing?"

Bruce sat down next to Tony and pulled him into a hug as he spoke to Thor. "Not everyone knows what to do with solid evidence of something they don't believe about themselves. That's all, Thor."

Thor frowned for a moment before going to one knee in front of Tony and wrapping Tony's hand around Mjolnir's handle. "You are worthy of Mjolnir. Worthy of many things." Thor smiled at him. "Never doubt your virtue, Tony."

Tony snorted as Clint started to giggle. While everyone was busy explaining why Thor's word choice was funny, Tony slipped his hand off Mjolnir's handle.

****

Tony patted Jarvis' shoulder as they watched Thor unwrap the food Thor's mother had made to fix Jarvis. "You're sure this won't hurt him?"

Thor glanced up and smiled. "Mother is certain that a friend of Loki's has done this. It is a simple matter to reverse." Thor held out something that looked like golden bread to Jarvis. "Please eat it all, friend Jarvis."

Jarvis took the bread and glanced at Tony before starting to eat.

Tony stayed next to him even as he moved the backup version out of the way so if it worked Jarvis would be able to slip right back into place. "Uh, Thor, who else can pick up your hammer?"

Thor watched Jarvis chew. "It is not something I have played with. I know of just one other than myself."

"Huh." Tony watched Jarvis take the last bite of bread. "Okay, J?"

Jarvis nodded. "I do not feel different." He blinked and looked down at himself. "Oh."

Tony leaned forward as Jarvis started to softly glow. "J!"

Thor caught Tony up and held him still. "Please, wait, Tony."

Tony struggled, panting, as he tried to reach Jarvis as the glow became stronger. It got to the point that Tony had to close his eyes, but he kept straining that direction. "Jarvis!"

"I am functional, sir."

Tony slumped in Thor's arms and looked up at the ceiling. "JARVIS?"

"I appear to be in proper working order, sir. Would you mind double checking?"

Tony wiped his cheeks and smiled at Thor. "Thanks."

Thor clapped him on the shoulder. "I am sorry, Tony."

"Yeah." Tony proceeded to ignore Thor as he went over every line of JARVIS' code.

****

Bruce watched Clint poke Mjolnir with a finger. "Leave it alone, Clint."

Clint grinned at him. "Want to try to pick it up?"

Bruce frowned. "No."

Clint turned towards him. "Sorry."

With a shrug, Bruce leaned against Clint as he sat down. "We both know I wouldn't be able to lift it."

Clint rested his chin on top of Bruce's head as he looked at the hammer. "You're more likely than I am."

Natasha stuck her head in the room. "Quit moping and come help introduce Thor to _The Wizard of Oz_."

Bruce smiled as Clint sprung up, pulling Bruce with him.

****


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's been some confusion on who the asexual tag refers to. This chapter should clear that up. I wasn't meaning for it to seem like I was tagging Tony with it because of trauma, because that wasn't what I was doing. Tony isn't even really in his relationship yet and I use the relationship tags with the & for non-sexual relationships. 
> 
> I'll be the first to tell you I suck at tagging and I'm totally insecure about my writing. If it seems like I'm being an ass, most likely I'm just clueless. Just so you know.

****

Bruce glanced up as Phil settled next to him on the couch. "Morning."

Phil put the tablet with his non-secure email open on it across his thighs and he held out a cup of coffee to Bruce that he'd been carrying with his own in his other hand. "Good morning, Doctor Banner."

Bruce took the cup and sat it down on the coffee table. "I've told you before, it is just Bruce."

Phil nodded and started checking his messages.

Bruce read the rest of the article he was on and then looked over at Phil again. "Natasha suggested I was too zen about Clint's relationships with you and Natasha."

Phil saved his current reply to a draft and sat aside his tablet. "Are you concerned about your reaction?"

"No." Bruce sat aside his reading. "I started out thinking that the three of you were more, I don't know, cuddle buddies? Now, having seen more interaction, I'm thinking I was off-base and that I might be cheating in some polite way where you don't kill me for it."

Phil snorted. "No." He turned more towards Bruce. "Clint likes sex."

Bruce nodded. "I've noticed."

"I don't care for it." Phil straightened his tie. "I never have cared. Neither of you are cheating. He used to feel like that when I first told him I didn't care where he got his sex from as long as he was safe about it."

"Oh." Bruce blinked and then frowned. "And, Natasha?"

"She usually doesn't want sex outside of missions. I feel she thinks of it as a power maneuver, but I haven't actually asked her about it, you understand."

Bruce nodded as his eyebrows went up. "Yeah. I can see that." He drummed his fingers on his thigh. "We started this while you were thought to be dead and I had no idea about Natasha. I sometimes feel like I've invaded your life."

"You haven't." Phil picked up his tablet and pulled up a picture Nat had snapped of him and Clint discussing the Hulk. "I watched him fall in love with you while we were looking out for you after Harlem."

Bruce adjusted his glasses and looked at the picture. "He said he helped you with tracking me."

"I didn't want you to have your life ripped apart again if possible." Phil rubbed at his chest. "It wasn't as successful as I would have liked."

Bruce gave a half-smile as he handed back the tablet. "I, uh...What do you like?"

"What?" Phil looked at Bruce and frowned. "You mean from a relationship?"

Bruce pulled his glasses off and fiddled with them. "I've never been in a relationship with an asexual before. Is that right?" Bruce grimaced. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"Stop." Phil put a light hand on Bruce's nearer thigh. "You aren't offending me. We're safe here, Bruce. It is alright."

Bruce bit his lip. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for." Phil gave Bruce a smile. "I like doing things together, cooking, or reading."

"Video games."

Phil nodded. "The simplest way to get Clint to sit still for a few hours that won't bore one or the other of them." He patted Bruce's arm. "I like sleeping next to them. I am also not adverse to kissing."

Bruce put his glasses back on. "So? Reading next to each other is good for you?"

"Yes." Phil turned his tablet back to his messages and pulled up the draft he'd saved. He ignored Bruce adjusting beside him until Clint appeared in the doorway.

"Awesome." Clint sat on the floor between them and hooked an arm around Bruce's leg while he laid his head on Phil's knee. "Tony is a horrible mood."

Phil threaded his fingers into Clint's hair and then disentangled them to reach over and capture Bruce's hand. He brought their hands to Clint's head and grinned as Clint sighed when both hands carded into his hair. "He just sort of lost Jarvis, he's allowed to be cranky, Clint."

Clint sighed. "I know. Maybe Bruce should let Hulk out to cheer him up."

"Seriously?" Bruce tugged at Clint's hair just a bit. "You aren't that crazy."

"Why not? Hulk likes Tony. He's smart, Bruce."

"I didn't say he wasn't smart." Bruce pushed his foot against Clint's knee. "What about dangerous don't you get?"

"Walking down the street is dangerous. Living is dangerous." Clint poked Phil's shin with a fingertip. "Tell him, Phil."

"There are degrees of dangerous. And allowing Hulk out would most likely result in him looking for whatever upset Tony so he could smash it."

"See?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "Spoilsports."

Bruce rubbed his thumb across Clint's temple. "You knew I'd say no."

"Yeah. That doesn't mean I'm going to quit asking." Clint ran his fingers up, over Bruce's knee. "You are always tense and worried. The most relaxed you get is just after changing back when you don't care about, well, anything after someone tells you the highlights."

Phil flicked Clint's ear. "Don't push."

Bruce frowned. "What are you getting at?"

Clint sighed. "I worry we make you more nervous. That I've sort of roped you into this and..."

"Oh." Bruce shook his head and leaned over to look at Clint. "No, no. I'm a big boy, Clint. I can tell someone no if I need to do so."

Clint grinned. "Well, I know you're a big...OW." Clint covered his ear. "Don't abuse the old injuries, Phil."

Phil mentally rolled his eyes. "The injury is inside your ear not the cartilage I'm flicking. Stop being dense and I'll quit getting your attention through your ear."

Clint looked up at Bruce and made a pleading expression. "Bruce. I think I'm being abused."

Natasha reached between Phil and Bruce to flick Clint in the neck. "What about now?"

Clint sprang away from them, cursing as he held his neck. "Nat! Now everyone will think I have a hickey. That hurt."

Nat smirked. "I could make it bigger."

Clint held the side of his neck as he glared at Nat. "No. Just because I was trying to get Bruce to talk about himself I get attacked." He darted back over, giving Phil a quick one armed hug, and ruffled Bruce's hair as he pulled away. "I'm going to go see if I can trick Steve into bugging Tony. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

****

Thor held a glass out to Tony. "This is a gift, Tony. Please drink it."

Tony frowned and looked down at the glass of golden liquid. "It looks like what you gave JARVIS." He eyed Thor. "I don't like being handed things."

"It is not the same substance." Thor sat the glass down between them, brushed his fingers over his belt, then dropped his hands. "Please, Tony."

Tony kept frowning, but he downed the glass. "There. Done. What exactly did you..." Tony blinked and looked down at himself. "Why are all my aches gone?"

Thor beamed and hugged Tony before he could protest. Then he left as Tony was trying to catch his breath.

****

Steve watched Thor pour a glass of golden liquid. "I don't understand. Why did you have Tony drink this? What is it?"

Thor gave him a grave look. "You like our team, do you not?"

"Yes, of course, but..." Steve narrowed his eyes as he thought about it. "Thor, are you going to be in trouble for this?"

Thor shrugged. "I do not care."

Steve watched him leave the room with the glass. "Son of a gun." Steve followed.

Thor smiled as he cornered Coulson in the living room and handed him the glass. "It is a great gift, Son of Coul."

Bruce, sitting next to Coulson, frowned at Steve. He shrugged because he didn't know what to say about it.

Phil blinked as he handed back the glass. Then he stared down at himself. "Thor tell me what just happened."

Thor smiled wide and pour another glass. "Lady Natasha, please." He held out the glass to Natasha.

She looked Phil over closely before taking the glass. She downed it like a shot of vodka. She handed back the glass with a frown. "It tasted different than it smelled."

Thor turned towards Clint as he appeared at Steve's elbow. "Sheildbrother, a drink." He held out another glass.

Clint looked around at them all and sniffed the glass. "Is this some sort of joke?"

Steve was watching Phil gently touching his chest and smiling more with each press of his fingers. "No joke, Clint."

Clint eyed him and drank down the glass. He handed it back and swore as he ripped out his hearing aids. "What the fuck?"

Bruce jumped up to go to Clint, but he back away and threw himself up into the vents. Bruce turned towards Thor. "What does it do?"

Thor poured half a glass and pushed it into Bruce's hands. "Please. Drink, please."

Bruce stood there panting and then he nodded just slightly before chugging it down. He handed the glass back and then dropped to sit on his butt on the floor. "Woah."

Steve steadied Bruce and looked up when a half full glass appeared under his nose. "Thor..."

Thor's expression was pleading. "Please, quickly, Captain."

Steve took the glass and sniffed. It smelled like the cider the old speak easy would offer in the fall. Steve drank it.

****

JARVIS became concerned as each person's vitals shot up in turn. He attempted to attune his sensors to Tony to attempt to see if it was something JARVIS was missing. 

Tony was standing in his workshop flexing his fingers. It did not alleviate JARVIS' concern. When Captain Rogers' vitals shot up, JARVIS began to active his defensive subroutines...

****

Tony startled as to his left golden light condensed into Jarvis with that lanky body Tony had wanted to run his hands all over. "Jarvis?"

The flat voice of backup-Jarvis came from the speakers. "Sir?"

Jarvis rolled his eyes. "Perhaps we should join the others in the living room, sir?"

Tony blinked and rubbed his non-achy fingers together again. "Huh. Okay." 

They headed up and Tony poked at Jarvis until he sighed and poked back. 

Tony grinned. "I know I shouldn't, but I really like this, J."

Jarvis sighed. "I would never encourage you, sir, but I find in small periods of time that I enjoy this as well."

They headed into the living room.

****


	11. Chapter 11

****

Steve blinked again as he tried to adjust to the new level of _everything_ he could see. "Thor."

Thor beamed and helped Bruce from the floor to the couch next to Phil. "All is well, Captain."

Tony came into the room with Jarvis in tow. "Thor!"

Thor smiled even wider and moved to embrace Jarvis. "Your defensive transformation is quite wonderful, friend Jarvis."

"My what?"

Tony looked around at the others. "What exactly did you do, Thor?"

Thor hugged Tony and went to stand under the open vent panel. "I have borrowed a small jar of mead from my family's stock. It is prized, even on Asgard."

Steve tapped his fingertips to his other palm. "How much trouble are you in, Thor?"

Thor shrugged. "What is done can not be undone. I deemed my teammates worthy of the gifts given thusly."

Tony patted Bruce's shoulder where he was hunched in on himself. "So, you mean you're going to be in deep shit."

"It matters not." Thor frowned up into the open vent. "Have I offended him?" He gestured at the vent.

Phil kept rubbing at his chest. "He just needs to adjust, Thor."

"Very well." Thor hugged everyone in turn. "I will await my judgement on the roof."

Steve frowned after him as he hefted Mjolnir and left. "Does anyone know how much trouble he just got himself in?"

Tony stood up. "Basically legend, right?"

Natasha nodded as she ran her hands down her legs. "Right."

"Son of a bitch." Tony hurried out of the room.

Steve frowned and followed.

****

Tony approached Thor were he was leaning on the wall along the edge of the roof. "Thor, why give us mead from the Golden Apples?"

Thor smiled grimly and looked out over the rebuilding efforts. "You are human."

"Okay." Tony stopped next to him and mimicked his posture. "So, what's wrong with that?"

"I do not wish to lose the team we make so quickly as that."

Tony stared out over the city. "And Coulson?"

Thor pursed his lips. "He has never feared me. The Son of Coul deserves a princely life which he would not want. He likes the life he has. I simply gave him more of that life." He glanced at Tony from the corner of his eye. "I know consent should have been sought, but..." He frowned. "I knew everyone would deny me."

Tony bumped his shoulder into Thor's arm. "You're an idiot." He put his chin on his hands. "Is it a one time thing or do we need repeats? Because, no one is going to ever just take a glass from you and down it now, you know that, right?"

Thor grinned. "One time is sufficient."

"Good." Tony stood up straight and grabbed ahold of Thor's cape. "Come on. If Daddy's going to be mad at you he can damn well do it in the living room with the comfy chairs. Why the hell is Jarvis back in a human shape, exactly?"

****

Bruce listened to Thor leave and Tony follow with half an ear. He was feeling weirdly relaxed and that alone was worrying. Bruce reached carefully for the rage that would bring the other guy right to the surface. Bruce blinked.

****

Natasha kept touching her leg where she had broken her ankle and it always ached. Had always ached. It was prefect again, just as it had been before. She couldn't feel the thin line that had denoted the healed break. Her two fingers with no feeling could feel again just fine. Her ribs weren't sore. 

She checked on Phil, who was still rubbing his chest. "What about Stark's reactor?"

Phil's head snapped up. "He still had it." He stood and frowned down at himself. "Report, Natasha."

She watched him carefully as she reported all the changes.

Phil nodded. "The old repair for the torn ACL is not causing any twinges."

"And your chest."

He rubbed at it again. "That too." He smoothed down his tie and headed for the door.

Natasha turned towards Bruce, who was staring at the floor and frowning. She swallowed and looked at Steve watching them. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "It is almost like getting another dose of serum." He moved to kneel in front of Bruce. "What about you, Bruce?"

Bruce shook his head and pulled back. He blinked and started to say something when he froze again.

Steve frowned and he touched Bruce's arm. "Bruce, can you hear me?"

****

Bruce forced himself to pay attention to Steve's worried voice. "What?"

"I said can you hear me?"

Bruce rubbed his hand across his face. "I can hear you."

"Are you okay?"

Bruce shook his head. "No, I...Yes, but not..." He stopped and took a deep breath. "I can remember it all. Not in flashes."

"Oh." Steve pulled until Bruce relaxed against his chest into a hug. "Better?"

Bruce could feel tears gathering in his eyes. "Yeah. Better."

****

Clint nearly whimpered as he escaped down the vent to his nearest stash of equipment. He pulled out cotton balls and pulled them apart, wincing at the level of the noise, and the feel of the air. He stuffed his ears with the cotton and finally felt like he could breathe again.

He lay in the vent wondering at the feel of the air on his skin being something he could pick apart in his mind instead of being just the feeling of air flow.

Clint moved one of the cotton plugs and frowned at the sound of the cotton in his ear. "Weird." His voice was so _loud_. He rolled over onto his stomach and stared at the metal underneath him.

"Bruce." He turned his head and looked back down the vent. "Shit."

He headed for the nearest junction to drop down out from.

****

Jarvis watched as the team regrouped. He sat near his Tony as Thor explained why he hadn't asked anyone before giving them the mead.

Tony gestured to Jarvis when Thor was done talking. "And, Jarvis will go human any time he feels attacked or activates his defensive subroutines."

Natasha frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why do that?"

Tony wrapped his arm around Jarvis' shoulders. "Attacks are usually cyber. He's not in cyberspace when he's human shaped."

Bruce lifted an eyebrow. "And, what? You just pull the plug on Jarvis-backup?

"He'll still do the normal. No one has ever gotten Jarvis before. Agent has come the closest."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "What have I said about names, Tony?"

"That I cared to remember? Nothing."

Steve sighed, rolled his eyes, and stood up. "Come on, Tony. Let's get you laid down for a nap."

Jarvis smiled and followed along after his Tony.

Tony leaned away from Steve and glared. "Nap? I don't need a nap."

Steve smiled as he pulled Tony onto the elevator. He smiled as Jarvis stepped in with them and waited until the doors closed to push Tony against the elevator wall. "No, I don't think you did."

Tony smiled and curled his hands around the tip of Steve's shoulders. "You had something other than sleeping in mind?"

Steve nodded and looked at Jarvis. "I think..." He reached out to pull Jarvis close. "We shouldn't waste an opportune moment."

Tony laughed into Steve's shoulder. "I knew showing you pirate movies would corrupt you."

Steve smiled as he pulled them out of the elevator into his bedroom.

****


	12. Chapter 12

****

Clint wrapped his arm around Bruce as he couldn't help but listen to Thor explain. He tucked Bruce's head against his neck as Steve pulled Tony and Jarvis out of the room. Clint hoped Steve wasn't going to regret it later. 

He turned his head towards Phil. "Steve's sense of smell was off the charts when he woke up, right?"

Phil nodded as he rubbed at his chest before stilling. "Oh."

Clint pushed the cotton in his left ear in deeper and then he tightened his hold on Bruce. "Bruce, I need you to focus for me for a minute."

Bruce's hands curled into the fabric of Clint's shirt. "If Steve is smelling pheromones he's still him. Maybe a bit like being drunk depending on what Tony smells like to him."

Clint sighed at that and looked over at Thor, sitting there looking both worried and confused. "We'll thank you later. We just have to adjust some, okay? How soon do you expect someone to come scold you?"

Thor glanced up. "The mead does not get counted often. It is Heimdall having seen my actions that will bring attention."

"So. You don't know."

Thor nodded. "Indeed. I do not."

****

Steve gave Tony a gentle push towards his bed. Jarvis stood close by, watching, until Steve pulled him in carefully by his wrist. 

Tony pulled off his shirt and tugged at the hem of Steve's shirt. "Why now?"

Steve tucked his nose into the crock of Tony's neck, even as he stroked Jarvis' arm. "You were so unhappy when Jarvis was put back into his first body. When Thor said he can change at will you...Your smell changed."

Tony blinked and pulled Jarvis closer. "Clothes off, J." He patted the back of Steve's neck. "Is it like being drugged? Do I need to save you from yourself?"

Steve huffed a laugh and pulled back just enough to get his own shirt off. "It is better than being drugged." He smiled and dropped a kiss on Tony's nose. "I promise to respect you in the morning."

Tony laughed and worked on getting Steve's jeans undone. He turned his head to look at Jarvis. "You okay, J?"

Jarvis looked up from pushing his pants down his legs. "I am completely functional, sir."

Tony gave Steve a lopsided grin. "Well, soldier, what are we doing?"

Steve rolled so he was on his back. "What do you want, Tony?"

Tony blinked and looked from one to the other. "I get to decide?"

Jarvis crowded close and sighed as he rubbed his skin against Tony's closer arm. "Do you require suggestions?"

Tony snorted and dropped his head to rest on Steve's chest. "Fuck. Do you know how much of the internet Jarvis has seen, Steve?"

Steve stroked Tony's hair. "More than I want to know about?"

Jarvis smiled. "Oh, yes." He ran his hand down Tony's back to the waistband of Tony's jeans. "Sir, can this be removed?"

Tony smiled and wiggled his way out of the rest of his clothes. He settled back down against Steve's side and rested his chin on Steve's shoulder. "Anything I want?"

Steve looked him in the eye. "Anything. Even if we have to work up to it."

With a widening grin, Tony sat partway up and grabbed Jarvis' arm. He glanced at Steve and then down at their bodies. "I, uh, used to be a huge slut." He pulled Jarvis in close and whispered in his ear.

Steve pretended to not be able to hear, even though it was quite clear what was being said.

Jarvis looked at Steve and Steve gave a tiny nod so Jarvis would know it was fine with him. 

Tony crawled over Steve and straddled his hips. He leaned forward until he could tuck his head under Steve's chin. "Fuck me when Jarvis is done?"

Steve ran his hand down Tony's back to touch Jarvis' wrist where his hand rested on Tony's hip. "Is that what you want, Tony?" He could feel himself blushing, but he ignored it as he watched Jarvis move to kneel between their legs.

Tony kissed Steve's collarbone and tucked his hands under Steve at the back of his shoulders. "I want that."

Jarvis leaned sideways to pull open the drawer Steve kept his personal items in. "I believe he wants details, sir."

Tony shuddered lightly and kissed Steve's skin again. "You want details, Steve?"

Steve roamed his fingertips across Tony's skin, reveling in the tiny imperfections he could feel with even greater precision now. "Yes, Tony."

Tony shifted, rubbing his erection against Steve's stomach. "You're blushing so hard." He pulled back and grinned down at Steve. "I want to be messy with it. J's first time and then, what your first?"

Steve ran his hands down to Tony's asscheeks and pulled them apart for Jarvis. "First time to go so far."

Tony's fingers spread out on Steve's ribs. "Blush for me some more, Steve." He dropped a kiss on Steve's nipple and then pulled back again. "I want to sink right down on you as soon as J pulls out. You'll plant your feet and fuck up into me."

Steve watched Tony's face closely as Jarvis ran a slicked finger along Tony's skin. "You liked being taken?"

Tony dropped his head forward as Jarvis slipped a finger into him. "Uh." He rubbed his fingertips on Steve's skin. "I like the feeling."

Steve lifted the fingers of one hand to feel Jarvis working another finger into Tony with the back of his own fingers. "Jarvis?"

Jarvis looked up from staring at the point his fingers disappeared into his Tony. "Yes?"

Steve pushed his fingers into the side of Jarvis' hand. "You okay?"

Tony turned his head to look at Jarvis over his shoulder. "J?"

Jarvis twisted his fingers and grinned when Tony's eyelids fluttered. "Yes, Steve, I am alright." He pushed other finger into Tony. "This method of stimulation appears to be very effective."

With a snort, Tony laid himself back down on Steve's chest. "Yeah. Said I liked it for a rea...son." He gasped again as Jarvis twisted his fingers back and forth.

Steve slipped his hand between his and Tony's hips to touch the side of Tony's erection before reaching a little further back to the base of his own shaft.

Jarvis cocked his head and then Steve felt him adjust Steve's dick to stand up along Tony's perineum. Jarvis pulled his fingers that were in Tony back and then he thrust in sharply.

Tony's head jerked up and he gave a slight cry before his hips stuttered into motion. Steve rolled his hand over and grasped at Tony's thigh to spread him wider.

"Fuck." Tony bucked, trying to get Jarvis' fingers in deeper.

Jarvis stroked Steve's shaft with the back of the hand not occupied with Tony. "You are not sufficiently prepared, sir."

Tony shuddered and turned his face down to groan into Steve's skin. He wiggled his hips. "Say it...again."

Steve kissed Tony's temple. "What? Him calling you 'sir?' Is that what you need, Tony?"

Tony shivered and tucked his hands under Steve to press them tight together. "Yes. J, please...please."

Jarvis found a pace he felt was working well. "What do you want, sir?"

Tony shuddered and held his breath as he pushed himself back onto Jarvis' fingers.

Steve shifted the hand holding Tony wider and pressed his fingers into the slickness surrounding Tony's hole. "Breathe, Tony."

Tony gulped air and rocked as Jarvis added another finger. "Fuck me, J."

Jarvis reached under Tony to stroke his prick. "When I deem you ready. Sir."

Steve wrapped his other arm around Tony's shoulders. "Can you be touched once you've orgasmed, Tony?"

Tony arched up against Steve's arm and then collapsed back down with a shiver. "I...don't get...too...sensitive." Tony pushed back hard. "What...are you...asking for?"

Steve pressed his fingertips near Tony's hole into Tony's skin to a different rhythm than Jarvis' finger fucking. "I think Jarvis should push inside as you are coming down from an orgasm."

Tony shivered and moaned into Steve's skin.

Steve smiled at Jarvis and held Tony tight as Jarvis plunged his fingers into Tony at a steady pace. "You'll be so messy by the time I take you."

Tony shuddered and kissed Steve's skin where the line of his blush went across his chest. "Does it...pain...you to...say that?"

Steve nipped at Tony's shoulder. "Just makes me blush harder."

Tony's hold tightened and he arched back as he spilled onto Steve's stomach. Jarvis kept up his pace and they stroked and held Tony between them as he trembled.

Jarvis tenderly pulled his fingers out and braced himself as he rubbed the head of his cock across Tony's hole. "Sir?"

Tony flung an arm out and wrapped his hand around Jarvis' bracing arm. "Fuck me, J. Right...now." 

Jarvis shook as he slicked more lube onto himself. Steve kept Tony in place as he started to squirm impatiently. Jarvis stilled and looked at Steve.

With a smile, Steve nudged the back of Jarvis' thigh with his own calf. "Go ahead, Jarvis."

Jarvis looked down at Tony and blinked. He lined up and sank into Tony with a quick snap of his hips. 

Steve shivered as the head of his cock was slapped by Jarvis' scrotum. Steve held Tony with his arm and braced Jarvis with his knees and his other hand as they both moaned. Jarvis' looked faraway and unfocused as Tony panted with his eyes squeezed closed.

Steve stroked their skin with tiny movements as he watched them savor, wallow, in the sensations. Jarvis jerked and he seemed to focus again as he started moving with a lingering serene look to his eyes.

Tony made a noise low in his chest and turned his face into Steve's neck. "Fuck."

Steve slipped one hand in to feel where Jarvis and Tony were joined. "Yeah."

Jarvis shivered at Steve's touch and reached in to move Steve's hand to the back of his scrotum to press his balls against Steve's cock where it was standing up between Jarvis and Tony.

Steve kissed Tony's shoulder as Jarvis sped up, his face tightening as he chased his own pleasure.

Tony's half-hard cock slid through the mess on Steve's stomach, catching a little as things became stickier. Jarvis' breathing became erratic as he picked up his pace.

Steve rubbed Jarvis' scrotum with his fingertips and could feel it as Jarvis climaxed.

Tony moaned and pushed back pressing Steve's cock tight between Tony's ass and Jarvis' pelvis. Steve sucked in a sharp breathe and then buried his nose in Tony's neck at the heady smells.

Jarvis let himself down to rest on them and Steve could feel Tony's reactor digging into his skin. Jarvis didn't stay for more than a few seconds before slipping to one side and touching Steve's shaft.

Jarvis' hands shook as he spread lube on Steve. He couldn't help but buck up as Jarvis shifted him into place to press into Tony.

"Oh." Steve could feel all the tension in himself change as he buried himself in Tony. "Tony."

Tony panted against his skin. "So...good."

Steve whimpered as Tony squeezed his muscles. 

Jarvis' fingers pressed against Steve's cock as he pushed a finger into Tony and gently pulled Tony's hole more open. "Do not tease him, sir."

Tony relaxed and went more rigid all at once. Steve wrapped his hands around Tony's asscheeks and held him up a little so Steve could press his feet into the bed to fuck up into Tony. Jarvis' finger felt exquisite as Steve moved against it with each drive of his hips.

Tony's panting grew more ragged and then he bit Steve's neck.

With a groan, Steve thrust faster, holding Tony right where he wanted him, loving the little whispery grunts Tony gave them. Steve threw back his head as he orgasmed.

Tony squirmed against him and Steve gasped. Tony grabbed Jarvis' free hand and wrapped both their hands around Tony's cock.

"Again, J." Tony rode Steve's softening cock as he used Jarvis' hand to bring himself off again. He ground down onto Steve as his dick spurted weakly.

Steve slipped himself out of Tony and winced slightly when Tony whimpered. Steve rolled onto his side, easing Tony down between himself and Jarvis. He pulled Jarvis in against Tony's back and wrapped his arm around them both.

Tony muttered sleepily between them and Jarvis kept blinking. 

Steve gentled his hold on them. "We'll clean up in a little while."

Tony frowned and pushed his forehead against Steve's collarbone. "Unfair. Full sentences."

Steve smiled and kissed the top of Tony's head, taking a deep breathe of the smell of them. "I'll be ready to go again by then."

Tony shuddered and grinned into Steve's skin. "Awesome."

Jarvis smiled at him and watched Tony as he fell into a light doze. Steve smiled and gently stroked Jarvis' hair until he settled down and went droopy eyed too.

****

After a hurried conversation between Natasha and Phil they decided to put Clint and Bruce to bed. 

Nat helped Clint guide Bruce along the hallway. She spoke quietly. "Do your ears hurt?"

Clint kept Bruce from walking into the wall with a few nudges. "Not really. Everything is just loud. Loud, Nat. Like a full crowd or something." He nudged Bruce again. "Will he be okay?"

She opened the door to their rooms. "He'll adjust." She helped pull off Bruce's shoes. "Bruce? Bruce, pay attention for me."

Bruce blinked and shifted his head slightly to look more towards her.

"Bruce, do you want to sleep in clothes?"

Blinking slowly, Bruce patted his hands along the outside of his thighs. "Scratchy."

Clint exchanged looks with Natasha. "Bruce, we're going to take off your clothes and put you to bed, okay?"

Bruce hummed a little and buried his face in Clint's neck as Clint leaned in to undo Bruce's cuffs.

Clint looked up at Nat as Bruce's arms came up around Clint's sides. "Nat?"

Nat ran her fingers through Clint's hair. "I'll be in the hallway if you need me."

Clint nodded and waited until the door clicked closed to ease Bruce back. He searched Bruce's blank expression before reaching down to undo the button on Bruce slacks. "Bruce, you with me?"

Bruce blinked and smiled a little as he leaned in to smell Clint's neck again. "Love."

Clint frowned and gently pushed Bruce backwards until he flopped back on the bed with a bounce. "Stay put."

Bruce hummed faintly and lay still as Clint removed his socks, slacks, and boxers. Clint watched Bruce's face closely as he eased Bruce's shirt buttons undone.

"What's happening in there, buddy?"

Bruce blinked again and turned his head slightly to look towards Clint. "Memories."

"Okay." Clint pushed the cotton in his right ear back in and slipped Bruce's shirt off his arms. "Can you crawl into bed now?"

Bruce smiled blankly and reached up to pull Clint down on top of himself. "Love."

Clint grinned and stroked down Bruce's neck. "You said that, yes. What do you mean?"

Bruce buried his nose in against Clint's neck. "Good."

Clint huffed a laugh. "Oh, you had better regain full sentences soon or I'm going to go beat Thor over the head."

Bruce snaked an arm around Clint and tugged him down tight to himself. "Stay now."

Clint cupped the side of Bruce's face with one hand. "Bruce. Bruce."

Bruce blinked and focused more on Clint's face.

"Bruce."

Bruce blinked and he tried to curl in on himself to one side, dislodging Clint. "Shit."

Clint hovered close. "Bruce?"

Bruce shivered and groped for Clint's hand. "I can...Everything, Clint. I can remember it...all." He blinked and reached for Clint's ear. "You?"

Clint smiled. "I'm fine. I'll be okay." He patted Bruce's cheek. "You back now or are you going to go away again?"

Bruce buried his head in Clint's neck again and sucked in a deep breath. "Uh. I don't...know." He pushed at Clint's jeans. "Can you...get naked now?"

Clint pushed Bruce down and held Bruce's chin while he looked Bruce in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

Bruce blinked and smiled shyly. "I'll be alright." He plunged his hand inside Clint's waistband. "I'm aroused by your smell." He nipped at Clint's chin. "By you."

Clint bucked as Bruce closed a hand around his cock. "Bruce."

Bruce grinned wider and drew Clint towards himself. "I want to try."

Clint tried to focus. "Right now? You...were..." He bucked again and pressed the heel of his hand to the base of his cock. "Bruce."

Bruce stared him in the eye. "Do you not want to right now?"

Clint stroked his thumb down Bruce's neck. "You swear you're okay?"

Bruce nodded and pushed Clint's jeans down and off. "I just needed a little time to work through it. I..." He pulled Clint into a kiss and then grinned as he let Clint go. "...want to fuck you."

Clint shivered and stripped off his shirt. "Don't you dare regret this later."

Bruce crowded close and smelled at Clint's neck. "Hands and knees."

Clint went to his forearms and knees, adjusting the cotton in his left ear as he mentally questioned his motives. He shivered as Bruce rolled on a condom and slicked up. He could feel the air move as Bruce knelt behind him. "Bruce."

Bruce leaned over him and bit the back of his neck. "It feels so good to be able to have you like this." He slowly worked his way into Clint's body. "It fills a void in me to be able to just put you were I want you to be." He put more weight onto Clint's back. "I...am glad you...are okay."

Clint whimpered as Bruce rolled his hips and worked a little more in. He added more lube and pressed his nose to Clint's neck. 

"Yeah." Clint rested his forehead on his clasped hands and rocked back onto Bruce's cock. "Harder."

Bruce grunted and widened his knees to rest on either side of Clint's legs. He wrapped one arm around Clint and tucked his hand over Clint so Clint could see Bruce's hand. "Watch...please."

Clint kissed Bruce's knuckle and rode the sensations as Bruce's pace quickened. As Bruce got noisier, Clint was pleased that it wasn't bothering his ears. Clint put his cheek on Bruce's fist and snaked a hand down to stroke himself.

Bruce's other hand gripped Clint's wrist. "Kneel up for me."

They shifted positions and Clint lolled his head on Bruce's shoulder as Bruce held him close and fucked up into him. Bruce wrapped a gentle hand around Clint's throat and kept the other hand wrapped around Clint's dick.

Bruce sucked on the back of Clint's neck as he thrust. 

Clint moaned as Bruce got rougher. He shivered as Bruce squeezed his cock firmly. "Bruce. Fuck." He reached under them and cupped their swaying balls as Bruce huffed into his neck. "You...can do it, Bruce." He pushed back into every drive of Bruce's hips. "Harder."

Bruce's hand tightened on Clint's neck and he bit Clint's shoulder as he slowed down to make each push harder. Clint made a little mewling noise and Bruce trembled as he thrust wildly.

Clint's cock jerked and he fell forward as Bruce orgasmed, his movements becoming little jabs as he lost himself. Clint used Bruce's hand on his cock to pleasure himself as he chased after his own climax.

They collapsed to the bed with Bruce half-covering Clint and shivering. Clint kissed the bit of Bruce's arm he could reach without stretching.

"Bruce?"

"Uhm?"

Clint pulled at the blankets crumpled to the side of the bed. "You still okay?"

Bruce caught the edge of the blankets and pulled them over them. "Almost prefect." He snaked his hand out from under the covers to drop the spent condom in the trash by the bed. "You?"

Clint wrapped Bruce's arm around himself. "Everything is too loud. Even with ear plugs."

Bruce pulled Clint closer. "I know the feeling."

****

Bruce cracked open an eye as Natasha sat on him. "What?"

She peered at him. "You're talking again. That's good."

He checked that Clint was still curled into his side before looking back at her. "It was a lot of information all at once."

"You look more confident."

Bruce grinned. "I'm not angry."

She blinked. "Is it gone?"

"No." Bruce turned his head and sniffed at Clint's neck. "No, the other guy is still there, just not desperate to get out." He looked at her again. "He is me. And now I think it'll be more me next time he's out."

She soothed her hand down his arm. "Your eyes went green while you were having sex. Jarvis-backup told me about it since I was the closest."

Bruce nodded. "I was..." He touched Clint's jaw. "I wasn't afraid at all. I was focused on making us both feel good." He looked at Natasha. "He just let me take him."

She nodded and flopped down beside them. "He was never afraid of you."

Bruce let his eyes drift closed before snapping them back open. "I'm naked under here."

Natasha smiled and closed her eyes. "I've seen it all before, Doc."

****


	13. Chapter 13

****

Steve gently pushed Tony behind himself as the older man with the eye patch frowned. "He's just concerned for Thor."

The man blinked and blew out a breath. "Thor has broken the laws of Asgard."

Tony leaned out from behind Steve. "If you try to take the hammer away again I _will_ find a way to make you very unhappy."

Steve pushed Tony further behind himself and thought about the distance from himself to his shield. "What Tony means is that you could have came down on the balcony or roof. Our bedroom isn't exactly a good landing position."

Jarvis poked his head out of the bathroom, pointing a taser at the man. "You should know that this weapon has rendered Thor unconscious before. Assuming you are Odin, I would think it will work on you as well."

The man lifted his chin slightly. "My manifestation should have put me next to my wayward son. Not in..." He looked around the room. "...this place. If you would show me to Thor Odinson, now."

Steve pointed to the door. "Wait one moment while I put on some clothes, sir." He turned his head towards Tony. "Do we call him majesty or m'lord?"

Tony was still glaring. "Nope. I don't think he needs the respect."

Steve grimaced and pushed Tony backwards towards Jarvis. "I'd apologize, but that would just make him say something worse."

The corner of the man's mouth lifted slightly. "I will await you in the corridor."

Steve gave him his best fake smile. "Thank you, sir."

****

Bruce grunted as Phil poked him awake. "What?"

"Get up. Odin showed up in Stark's bedroom and is being stalled right now by Captain Rogers."

Bruce sat up and took the clothes Phil was holding out to him. "Thanks. Is he saying how much trouble Thor's in?"

"Not precisely."

Bruce nodded and started pulling on his clothing as Phil shook Clint's shoulder.

****

Thor stared as his friends put themselves between himself and his Father. "I do not understand."

Odin looked amused by the display, so Thor thought perhaps there wouldn't be bloodshed. Tony glared at Odin with death in his eyes, so there still might be bloodshed.

Steve hefted his shield and nodded towards Odin. "Explain."

Odin raised his eyebrows and then spread his hands wide. "Thor has taken an important item from my stores." He tilted his head and looked straight at Thor. "It also appears you have used what you have taken."

Thor gently moved his friends out of harm's way until he stood before his Father's wrath with his team behind himself. "Aye, I did so and I would do so again."

"It is not a gift to be given lightly."

Thor nodded. "I did not give it lightly, Father."

Odin put his hands on his belt. "You did not give thought to how the mead would affect mere mortals."

Thor narrowed his eyes and took Mjolnir from his belt to set on the floor between them. "If you think that of me, Father, then you should remove yourself and our realms' artifacts from this world."

Tony darted around Thor's side and grabbed up Mjolnir as Odin's eye widened. "Oh, fuck that." Tony took the hammer with him as he retreated behind the rest of the Avengers. "I'm totally siccing Hulk on you before I let you hurt Thor like that again."

Odin looked to Thor.

Thor bit his lip so he would not smile. "They are overly protective."

"You would stay without your powers?"

Thor let his contentment show. "I am at home in this place."

Odin blinked again and frowned.

Son of Coul stepped forward and stood beside Thor. "I understand your unhappiness at an unauthorized use of your property, King Allfather. I would remind you that while you might not like how Thor has gone about this it is not something that even you can undo. Isn't that correct?"

Odin started to open his mouth when there was a bang from behind him.

"Odin Allfather!"

Odin cringed and turned towards the new voice. "Yes, dear?"

"Are you threatening your son? Are you threatening his friends?"

Odin glanced at Thor and turned towards Frigga, who was standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "No?"

She lifted one eyebrow at him and then ignored him as she swept past to wrap Thor up into a hug. "Thor, dear heart."

Thor buried his face in her shoulder. "Mother."

****

Tony wanted to curl up into a little ball. Thor's mother's presence was overwhelming with the hallow feeling that Tony's mother used to invoke in him after she'd started drinking heavily enough she didn't really see Tony when she laid eyes on him.

Clint was staring at the woman like he'd never seen anything prettier. Tony looked to Steve, smiling easily and a little sadly. Beside him, Bruce was rubbing the back of his neck and looking at his toes.

Natasha was edging away from Thor and his mother with a look of incomprehension in her eyes. 

Tony sat down Thor's hammer and pushed through the Avengers to stand next to Agent, who was holding himself very still. "Hi."

Frigga let Thor step back and then she smiled at Tony. "Hello."

"Uh, do you always make everyone feel like they are in the same room as their mom?"

She blinked, looked around at the rest of them, and adjusted her robe slightly. "Ah, it is not something I usually think about."

The feeling toned downed to the point Tony didn't want to find the nearest bottle to crawl into. He grinned. "That's an awesome weapon."

Frigga raised her eyebrows. "Weapon?"

Thor wrapped his arm around Tony's shoulders. "Friend Tony has designed many weapons. He sees weapons in many things."

Tony bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't say something even more insulting and get himself killed by Odin.

****

Bruce swallowed heavily and leaned against the wall behind him as Tony brought Thor's mother's attention to the feelings she was causing in everyone. He put his heel against Thor's hammer and watched Thor's parents have a quiet argument in the living room doorway.

Tony came over and leaned against the wall with Bruce. "That sucked, Big Guy."

Bruce rolled his eyes at the nickname. "Tony, threatening someone that has more power than you do is kind of stupid."

Tony shrugged and nudged Mjolnir with his foot. "Hulk could take him."

"You are such a pain in the ass sometimes."

With a grin, Tony patted him on the shoulder. "Could be worse. Lots worse. You didn't see me while I was dying."

"I read the news." Bruce watched Odin clasp his hands behind his back and look down at his feet. "I think she's scolding him."

Tony cocked his head. "Looks like it. Let me tell you something, Brucey. Always let the woman win the argument. Make your point, but they win. Every time."

Natasha leaned against the wall with them. "Maybe you should tell that to Happy."

Tony smirked. "He's learning. You can't change decades of family induced beliefs overnight."

She shrugged. "Think they'll make Thor go back?"

Frigga pointed at the floor and then at Thor as she spoke to Odin, who was nodding, still looking at his feet.

Bruce pushed his heel harder against Thor's hammer. "I hope they don't try. It won't go well."

"See?" Tony pushed on Bruce's shoulder. "Told you the Big Guy can take him."

Bruce shook his head as Odin turned towards Thor.

****

Phil kept his hand near his taser as Odin told Thor his punishment for taking the Golden Mead was to watch over the people Thor had gifted it on. Phil watched Frigga watching him as Odin went on to lecture Thor about his responsibilities to keep them from becoming evil.

He watched as Thor hunched in on himself more as Odin's scolding became harsher. Phil was about to step in and start deflecting when Frigga smiled slightly at him and touched Odin's arm.

"Perhaps we should properly met those Thor has chosen to gift, my husband."

Odin glanced at her and then nodded. "Yes, of course." He looked around the room at them.

Thor gestured to Steve. "This is the good Captain Rogers. He is valiant in battle and an honorable man."

Phil slipped into the kitchen as Thor praised each of his teammates in turn. He checked Jane Foster's postion and then looked up as Frigga stopped just inside the doorway. "Ma'am?"

She settled onto one of the bar stools. "I would apologize for my son's behavior, but then I don't think you would accept an apology from me."

Phil frowned at her and pulled out a stool across from her. "Thor hasn't done anything I would need an apology for."

"No, not Thor. I meant Loki." She looked towards the door. "Thor is..." She tapped her fingers on the counter between them. "I am sworn not to tell Thor this. I will not ask you to swear the same oath, understand?"

Phil lifted his chin slightly and put his hands on the counter's edge. "Yes, ma'am."

Frigga sighed. "Thor is not the child of my blood. His...birth mother, I think you say it such, _is_ Midgard herself." Frigga gestured towards the window. "I love her son as my own." She touched her stomach. "I will not have it known yet, but I carry a son for Odin now."

Phil blinked. "You can't tell Thor about either item?"

"Odin believes he knows what is best." She slipped from the stool and went to peer at the coffeemaker. "He's an idiot sometimes."

"Everyone is sometimes."

She smiled at him. "This is very true." She touched the side of his face as she walked by to sit again. "Thank you, Son of Coul, for helping my son."

Phil rubbed at the slight sting of her touch as he stood up. "That is my job, ma'am."

****

Steve had never been more glad to see the back of someone as he was to watch Odin and Frigga disappear from Tony's roof. "Everyone alright?" He looked everyone over as they nodded and scattered for the stairs or elevator.

Thor stayed next to Steve as they waited for the rest to go through the roof access door ahead of them. "Thank you."

"No problem, Thor." Steve looked up into the sky above them. "It was nice to meet them."

Thor gave him a little smile. "You need not lie to spare my feelings, Captain."

Steve shook his head. "Your mother made me a little homesick, but they were nice when your dad wasn't trying to make you feel like a heel."

"I did overstep..."

"He still shouldn't have scolded you in front of us. If it wouldn't have caused a inter-dimensional conflict I would have punched him."

Thor blinked and followed Steve into the stairwell. "Punched him?"

Clint looked back up the stairs at them. "I was ready to punch him too."

"I do not understand. I had wronged my Father. Should he not have been angry with me?"

Tony held the door to the top inside floor with his foot as he used his hands to talk. "Sure, him being upset, that's fine. Showing up in my bedroom, yelling at everyone, and threatening to take my stuff is not fine."

Thor looked to Phil, who was holding the elevator door. "His 'stuff?' What does this mean?"

Phil followed them into the elevator and Tony hit the button for the common floor. "In this case he means family."

"It did not translate to family." Thor frowned. "Does it mean more than one thing?"

Tony gave Thor a funny look. "Translate? Wait, what did it sound like I said? Or are you getting a mental picture to go with the word?"

Bruce patted Thor's forearm. "Stuff means different things to Tony at different times." He looked at Tony. "You read about Allspeak, Tony."

Tony scratched his head as they exited the elevator. "What, that weird speak to animals thing?"

Thor looked to Steve. "He believes himself an animal?"

****

It took Steve a few days to get used to the difference the mead had made. He could get drunk again, but it took almost more alcohol for him than it did for Thor. Steve found he wasn't hungry as often, but he'd eat more before becoming full. His senses were still up to snuff with no extras or problems that Steve could find.

His reflexes had even settled a little so he didn't startle from things nearly as often. In all it was a good thing for him. Steve wasn't so sure for the rest of the Team though.

Bruce was more calm, confident, and smiled far more often. He had let the Hulk out to test that he still could and Hulk hadn't smashed anything. He'd asked if they could play catch. Steve had promised him they'd play next time Hulk was out. Bruce had come back without his normal questions and he started talking about ball materials that could withstand the Hulk with Tony the instant he was done transforming.

Which brought Steve's thoughts to Tony. While the arc reactor was still in Tony's chest, the slight wheeze that Steve could hear sometimes had disappeared from Tony's breathing. Tony's energy seemed bottomless and he had finished more projects in the last week than Pepper said she'd seen him do in a year.

Clint was still hiding for the most part. Steve couldn't tell if it was because he still wasn't adjusted to the noise levels or if Frigga's motherly presence had bothered Clint too much. Steve had caught Clint sleeping in the vents more and more. He'd even taken to pulling Clint gently from his chosen vent and putting the man to bed whenever Bruce came looking for Clint in the middle of the night.

Steve wasn't sure what to do with Natasha either. Her already incredible skills had become even better. He'd watched her tumbling routine the day after Thor's parents had gone. Steve had flipped himself out of her way and she'd tackled him, grinning. They'd sparred and Steve found he didn't have to pull his punches nearly as much as before.

This was the one that really gave Steve pause. Phil was still walking around like Thor hadn't given them all something extraordinary. Steve sat down across from Phil with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Are you alright?"

Phil frowned as he looked up from his paperwork. "Is there a reason I wouldn't be?"

"You haven't said anything about what's different for you now."

"Ah." Phil tidied his pile of papers and looked at Steve. "I did not have extraordinary abilities before."

Steve leaned forward and laid his arms across his thighs, dangling his hands between his knees. "Phil..."

Phil sighed. "I..." He frowned and looked around them before touching the edge of his pile with a fingertip. "Thor's mother told me something I don't think I should know."

Steve frowned. "Is it bad?"

Phil pursed his lips. "Possibly. It would depend on how Thor would take it." Phil leaned back in his seat. "I'm not different, Steve."

Steve let it alone. He could see Phil move more easily, healed completely instead of still finding his slight catches in his chest.

Steve cornered Thor next. "Thor."

Thor smiled up at him from where he was...making something? Steve stepped closer and peered down at the mess spread around Thor. 

"Captain. How do you fare?"

"I'm fine." Steve cleared himself a spot and sat down on the floor near Thor. "Can you tell me exactly how the mead affected each person?"

Thor went back to sorting the plastic bits into color piles. "I can not." He looked up. "Not because I do not wish to answer you, but because I do not know."

"Can you guess?"

Thor sat up straight and looked Steve over. "You worry about yourself?"

"Not so much me." Steve shrugged. "Phil worries me."

"Ah." Thor sorted more plastic bits. "Mother gave him a gift of her own." He smiled at Steve. "Not that we should let on to him about such things."

"What did she give him?"

Thor smiled and glanced up at the ceiling. "It is not my place to say. I know that it will not harm him." Thor went back to sorting. "That is all I will say on the matter."

Steve started to help sort. "In Norse myths your mother is associated with wives and childbirth."

Thor leaned in close. "She is far more than that." He smiled wide. "Will you help me with these 'Legos' that Friend Jarvis has ordered for me?"

Steve watched Thor join two of the plastic bits. "Oh. Do we build something with them?"

Thor handed him a box. It had little Avenger figures on it. Blocky and colorful, Steve could see the shape of the Tower in the piles of bits they had spread around them now that he knew what he was looking at.

****


	14. Chapter 14

****

Phil walked down the grocery store aisle trying to decide if Thor's mother had given him a gift or a curse. He averted his eyes as a woman passed him with her hand on her belly. She wasn't showing yet, but Phil _knew_ it was a boy, healthy, and would be a fairly quiet sleeper. 

He reached up and took a can of beans off the shelf and stared at the label until there was a small touch on his knee.

"You okay, mister?"

Phil blinked, looked down at the little girl tugging on his pant leg. "I'm alright." He glanced around looking for the adult to go with her. "Hasn't anyone told you not to talk to strangers?"

She tilted her head. "Well, duh. You looked like Daddy and his squad looks sometimes." She squinted up at him. "You don't have proper hair."

He smiled gently. "I'm not active duty military." He held out his hand. "Let's go find your adult, okay?"

She eyed his hand and then took ahold of his thumb. "I think Mom is that way." She pointed down the aisle towards the meat section.

Phil checked both directions, but there were no calling noises from either way. "Alright. I'm Phil."

"I'm Nani." She pulled on his thumb. "Come on. You can meet Dad and talk ranks. He works for a damn living." She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked up at him. "Don't tell Mom I said the bad word, please."

He let his mouth turn up into a small smile. "Of course not, Nani."

At the end of the aisle, she dropped his hand and Phil watched her run over to a younger couple near the bacon. The man scooped her up and cradled her close.

Phil _knew_ they had two children, the other at home sleeping off a recent fever. They wanted one more child, they'd been trying before the man was rotated back into combat with his unit. Phil waved a little as Nani pointed to him and tugged on her dad's arm.

The man let Nani down and she pulled him over to Phil. "...and he was staring at the can like you stare at the lettuce sometimes."

The man smiled awkwardly and held out his hand. "Sorry about that. Nani means well. I'm Paul."

Phil took his hand to shake. "I'm Phil. She wasn't a problem at all." He glanced down at their hands and watched a spark of light disappear into Paul's hand. Phil felt a little more settled. His perception of their family shifted and Phil suddenly _knew_ they'd get the second little girl they wanted. She'd be healthy and robust. Able to handle an older brother and sister that would dote on her, but also drag her about during playtime.

Phil pulled his hand free of Paul's and extracted himself from the situation as fast as possible. He returned to Avengers Tower and headed straight for Bruce. He found him in the lab doing something with test tubes.

Phil sat on a stool nearby and wallowed in the perceptual silence that directly contrasted how noisy feeling the street had been. Bruce smiled at him in greeting, so Phil smiled back.

Bruce's expression turned more concerned than happy. "Are you alright?"

Phil started to nod and then shook his head. "I need an off switch."

Bruce put down the tube he was on and stripped off his gloves. He came over and sat down beside Phil and took his hand gently between his own.

Phil snorted as Bruce touched him. The perception opened up and Phil _knew_ that Bruce had pulled a muscle in his back, that he wanted children, but had mostly given up on the idea, that he was content in a way that was so new that Bruce didn't trust it yet, and that Bruce was still uneasy about not needing his glasses any longer.

"Phil? You're shaking."

Phil gently pulled his hand free and tucked them into his lap. "I think Frigga did something to me."

"What did she do?"

Phil shook his head a little and then nodded towards Bruce's experiment. "I can tell you are uneasy, you've pulled a muscle in your back, and you still hold out hope of someday having children of your own."

Bruce's eyebrows rose. "Okay. That's..." He touched Phil's forearm where his suit was bunched up. "Is this new sense work on everyone?"

"As far as I can tell." Phil gestured towards the window. "The street was a mass of...unless noise. I think I ensured a family will get the child they were trying for, but I have no idea _how_ I did it."

With a nod, Bruce wrapped his arm around Phil's shoulders. "Okay. We'll figure it out or ask Thor and see if he knows."

Phil gave a tired nod.

****

Clint looked up from his quiver as Bruce came in. "What's wrong?"

Bruce sat down and leaned against him. "Phil's got new powers and the adjusting is hard."

Clint took Bruce's hands in his own. "What'd he do? You're shaking."

Bruce slumped against him more. "He could tell I still think about having children. It is a wistful thing now. You know, those if only thoughts you get sometimes?"

Clint nodded even though he didn't really get that stuck in that sort of thinking. He knew what Bruce meant though. "You want children."

Bruce sniffed hard and put his face in the crock of Clint's neck. "I know I won't ever have kids. I know that, but to have Phil be able to _tell_..."

Clint soothed him. "Okay. That's okay. You don't have to want or not want them, Bruce. We can talk about that later, huh? I'm going to go pin down Phil, okay?"

Bruce nodded shakily and pulled back. He wiped his eyes. "Yeah. He needs reassurance that he's not going crazy."

****

Clint settled on the edge of Phil's bed. "Phil?"

Phil sighed. "It works on you too."

Clint tilted his head. "I've given up on the idea of kids, you know that."

Phil pulled the covers he'd thrown up over his head down. "You still want them. I _know_ it, Clint. Like I know that your ears are giving you less trouble, but you still aren't feeling completely normal. That you've got the start of a tension headache and you are sore from trying to sleep in the vents again."

Clint snorted. "Okay. More than fertility related stuff, huh?"

Phil rubbed at the side of his face. "Yes."

"Thor's mom's myth is, what? Childbirth, midwives...healing?" Clint made a so-so motion with his hand. "She didn't give you an instruction manual, maybe?" 

"No." Phil curled up tighter. "She just gave me information I didn't want and this power I can't seem to control."

Clint resettled Phil's blanket to cover Phil's shoulders. "Information?"

Phil nodded. "She was sworn not to tell Thor, but she didn't make me swear. I think she wants him to know it."

"Alright." Clint patted Phil's blanket covered shoulder. "I'm going to go talk to Thor. You try to rest."

****

Clint found Thor typing at a touchscreen keyboard with runes for keys, but the text that came out looked like English. "Thor?"

Thor smiled at him. "Friend Clint."

"Uh, Thor, you know how Phil got a gift from your mom?"

Nodding, Thor went back to typing. "Yes, she has given him a great gift, though he has never had such a gift. I am writing him a helpful document. Friend Tony thinks it will be of great use."

Clint sat down across from Thor. "Does it tell him how to rein it in so it doesn't overwhelm him?"

Thor glanced up at him before looking back at his typing. "Yes. It explains how to control his range or focus." He stopped typing and leaned back in his chair. "Son of Coul...he is upset?"

Clint grimaced. "No, I don't think he's upset. He went out this morning and came back really fast. I, uhm, he said your mom told him something about you that she was sworn not to tell you."

Thor lifted his chin slightly. "Has he told you what that might be?"

"No." Clint run a hand through his hair. "He seemed worried about what you will do if he tells you."

Thor stood and tapped the corner of the screen he'd been working on. "I will speak to him."

****

Phil ignored Steve and then Tony after him. He only let Natasha in because he knew she'd react negatively if he didn't. She sat at the foot of his bed and read a book. Phil couldn't help but stare at the little blue cloud across her stomach.

She looked at him over the top of her book. "What are you seeing?"

Phil pointed at the blue cloud. "There's a blue cloud hovering over you."

Natasha covered her stomach with her hand. "From the mead fixing the removal, possibly?" She nodded and went back to her reading. "I wonder if you'd be able to see breast cancer like that."

Phil started to answer when the door to his bedroom slammed open and Thor came in.

"Son of Coul!"

Phil resisted the urge to thump his head against the wall behind him. "Hello, Thor."

Thor smiled and knelt down beside Phil's bed. "I have been writing a...manual, Tony called it thus."

Phil grinned tiredly. "Tony told you to write a manual for powers I somehow have gotten from your mother?"

Thor reached out and touched the side of Phil's head where it was aching. "Yes, he was worried by the Captain's worry that you were not done...changing."

Phil sighed as his headache eased. He glanced at Natasha and could still see the blue cloud, but it wasn't as apparent. "Your mother told me something about you..."

"Yes." Thor shifted and sat down on the floor against Phil's bedside table. "She is sworn to silence on many things my father deems harmful to the realm of Asgard." Thor looked up at Phil. "He is not always correct in what he deems harmful."

Phil frowned. "You...Thor, she said she isn't your mother."

Thor nodded. "The whole of Midgard is my mother, I know." He sighed. "I have known since I was small that I was not my mother's child. She loves me, yes. She has raised me as her own, but she is now with child and Odin will no longer need an heir in me."

Natasha cocked her head. "How did you find out you weren't her child?"

Thor shrugged. "They argued when they thought me asleep. Shortly after Odin brought home Loki. I knew..." Thor hugged his knees to his chest. "...and I did not tell Loki."

Phil and Natasha exchanged glances.

"Thor, I don't think telling Loki would have made a difference." Phil patted Thor's shoulder.

"Perhaps." Thor pushed himself up. "It is of little consequence now. I will finish the manual." He touched Natasha's knee as he turned away.

They watched him until the bedroom door closed behind him. Phil turned back towards Natasha and blinked. The blue cloud was gone and that faint golden glow he'd decided indicated prefect health.

"Natasha."

She blinked and looked down at herself. "The mead started them regrowing. The estimate was a week more, but..." She touched her stomach. "Thor needs to ask first, I swear."

Phil smiled.

****

Steve settled near Tony and watched him watching a video feed of Thor typing. "What is he doing?"

"Writing a manual for Phil's new abilities." Tony flicked up another screen and it showed Phil hurrying down the street with his shoulders hunched. "This was from this morning. JARVIS was worried enough to interrupt me. I couldn't find a threat, but he headed straight for Bruce."

"And that turned into Thor writing, how exactly?"

"Bruce freaked the fuck out." Tony flicked up a vitals report for Bruce. "Look it. He nearly Hulk'd. He sent me a text and I bugged Thor. Ta da."

Steve nodded. "Is Bruce alright?"

Tony shrugged. "He still wants kids, but he's mostly given up on it. He lost Betty, he thinks."

"Thinks?" Steve narrowed his eyes at Tony. "What did you do?"

"Haven't done it yet." Tony waved his hand and shut down the whole works. "Want to go out?"

Steve frowned and followed. "Go out where? Tony?"

****

Betty rolled her eyes at the Army surveillance across the street. "Don't you ever get bored?" She waved at them as she unlocked her door. "Stupid asses." She huffed and slammed her door closed before slumping against it.

The room had been rifled through again. Betty grimaced and straightened a couple of pillows on her way to the kitchen. She looked out her kitchen window to check the surveillance in the back and frowned. They weren't...

Betty slipped out her back door and down the back walk to the fence. She peered at the car parked in the edge of the alley and cocked her head. As she started across the alley a hand slipped over her mouth and Betty was pulled into a shadow.

Biting down, Betty got a wince out of her captor.

"Ow. Tony, hurry up with that blocking whatever. She's biting me."

Betty's eyes widened as Iron Man clumped around from behind them to stand in front of her with the face plate retracted.

"Hey, look, I know this isn't the greatest rescue in history, but you could at least not bite your white knight."

Betty licked at her captor's hand.

"Yuck. Ma'am, licking isn't any better."

Tony Stark smirked at her from his armor. "The normal response to being licked is to pull away, Steve."

"The blocking thing, Tony."

"Oh, right. It's up, you can let her talk. They can't hear us."

Betty turned her head to glare as soon as Steve's hand moved and then she stared. "Ohhhh."

Tony smirked. "Yeah. That's about the right reaction."

Betty pressed her lips together and stomped on Steve's foot, making sure to drag her foot down his shin as she did so. "Let me go."

Steve grimaced. "Tony, please, hurry up and explain before she really hurts me."

Tony's armor curled a hand around her shoulder. "Rescue. Reunions. You in?"

Betty glared at them both. "What are you..." She stopped and looked at the Army men knocked out in their car and then back to Tony. "Avengers." She reached a hand out quick and caught the edge of Tony's mustache. "He didn't run afterwards? You're telling me I can _see_ him?"

Tony pulled his head away slightly, closing the eye on the side of his face she had a hold of, and frowned. "Yes, if you don't kill us before we get you there."

Betty let him go and nodded. "I have a bag ready."

Tony's eyebrows went up. "Awesome."

****

Clint frowned as Tony and Steve came into the kitchen followed by a small brown headed...Betty Ross. "Wow."

She looked at him and frowned. "Wow?"

Clint nodded. "He'll be really happy to see you." Clint smiled gamely. "I, uh, I'll be going."

Avoiding Tony's outstretched hand, Clint hurried out and found the nearest vent to disappear into.

****

Bruce blinked and rubbed at his eyes again. It was weird not to need his glasses, but still have the urge to put them on.

"Bruce?"

He turned towards the doorway where Natasha was hovering, holding one elbow with her other hand. He frowned. "What's wrong?"

Natasha shook her head. "Not wrong. It isn't...You should come up to the living room. You should come now."

Bruce looked down at the plans for an experiment he was working on. "Alright." It wasn't like Natasha asked for a lot and never looking like that. Bruce shut his notebook and followed her up.

****

Clint watched from the vents as Bruce stopped dead in the elevator doorway and Nat had to push him a little more forward to get them clear of the door, just as Betty leapt at him. Bruce caught her up and just swayed with her in his arms, muttering her name into her hair over and over.

Clint pressed his hand to his chest as Bruce kissed her once before tucking her in against his neck as he started to cry. Clint took deep heaving breaths and he wiggled his way down the vent. He couldn't watch anymore.

****

Phil stood over Bruce and Betty tangled together, sleeping, on Stark's couch. He stared at the pretty swirl of colors between them. 

Thor came over to stand with him. "It is always beautiful."

"The colors?"

Thor nodded. "It shows them to be true mates...No, you call it soul-mates."

Phil looked up at the vents. "This complicates things."

Frowning, Thor turned towards him. "Why?"

Phil mentally rolled his eyes. "Clint is in love with Bruce."

"Ah." Thor nodded. "I had thought that your people had complex relationships."

"What?"

Thor frowned at him. "Complex relationships. Such as yours with Friend Clint and the Black Widow. Which has come to include Bruce as well."

Phil blinked. "You think we'll just add Betty into that?"

Thor stared at him. "Why would you not? You do not lay with Bruce, is that not correct?"

"I don't lay with anyone." Phil held up his hand. "You mean Bruce and Betty, Bruce and Clint, and Clint with the non-sexual relationships with Natasha and myself?"

Thor smiled. "Is that not a proper solution?"

Phil raised his eyebrows. "We'll have to see." Phil turned on his heel to find Clint.

****


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I sort of sprung Bruce/Betty on everyone, sorry about that. She actually wasn't supposed to appear in this story. *sigh* Sometimes characters do not obey.
> 
> There is a minor mention of a past dub-con/non-con during a conversation that Betty and Natasha have. It is not explicit, nor does Betty name names.

****

Tony sighed as he slid down the wall to sit on the hallway floor. "I, uh, didn't really think that one through."

Clint popped the vent cover and looked down at Tony. "They looked really happy."

"Yeah." Tony tilted his head to look up at Clint. "I...uh..."

Clint snorted. "Wow, you speechless. That's got to be a first."

Tony made a face. "Could be." He folded his arms overtop of his knees. "Look, I wasn't trying to ruin what you two have."

"Had."

"What?" No." Tony shook his head, stood up, and moved to stand right under Clint's vent. "No, no. I get why you'd think that, but I'd give him a little time, Clint." Tony tapped his fingertip on his chin. "Think of it like you'd not been able to see or talk to Natasha for _years_ and then suddenly you walk into a room and there she is."

Clint blinked. "Oh."

"Right, so would that make your relationship with Agent just disappear?"

"No." Clint slipped down out of the vent and landed in front of Tony. "Thanks."

Tony grinned. "Don't thank me yet." He pushed on Clint's shoulder. "Go."

****

Betty had gotten very good at knowing when she was being watched. Waking up to that feeling, Betty held still and listened to the conversation Thor and Agent Coulson were having.

Betty nearly sat up when Coulson said that Clint was in love with Bruce, but she managed to stay still until Coulson had left.

"You need not pretend at slumber for my comfort, Warrior Betty."

Betty sat up and frowned at him. She soothed Bruce's seeking hand as he reached after her. "Warrior?"

Thor nodded with a serious expression. "You have fought as well as any I have known. Do you not consider yourself a warrior?"

Betty tucked a clump of hair behind her ear. "Not really." She petted Bruce's hair. "I heard him say that Clint loves Bruce. Which person is that?"

Thor tapped the screen in the coffee table's top. "He is also known as Hawkeye."

Betty looked the pictures over, one of him in full gear, another with him in normal clothes. "Oh, the one with the really nice arms that ran away in the kitchen."

Bruce jerked awake. "Wha...Betty?"

Betty ran her hand over Bruce's arm. "Hi...I'm right here."

Bruce yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Good. What are we talking about?"

Betty leaned against Bruce. "How Clint loves you."

He stiffened against her side. "Uh..."

Squeezing his hand, Betty leaned into him a little more. "He's hot, dear."

Bruce blinked and then smiled. "Betty, I don't think he..."

Betty patted him on the shoulder as she stood up. "He'll be worrying, Bruce. I don't want you to lose him because you are both guys and can't just talk."

Bruce ducked his head. "I didn't even think about him earlier."

Betty smiled. "You did have a shock, love. He'll understand. I'll be right back." She hurried out and stopped in the hallway. "Now all I have to do is find a highly trained individual that doesn't want to talk to me. Easy-peasy."

"If I might be of help, Dr. Ross, if you are indeed looking for Agent Barton you should turn right and proceed down the hallway."

Betty glanced up at the ceiling. "Oookay." She turned right. "No offense, but what are you?"

"I am JARVIS. I am an artificial intelligence that assigned to help when possible."

"Awesome." Betty touched a wall as the hallway started to bend. "Sort of. Do you see everything that happens in this house?"

"He does." Clint stopped short as they almost ran into each other. "He isn't a peeping tom, though."

"Good to know." Betty smiled and gripped his elbow tight. "Just the man I was looking for."

Clint's eyes widened. "Uhm..."

She went up on her tiptoes to get them a little more on the same eye-level. "You love Bruce?"

"I...I do." Clint swallowed. "That is...I mean..."

Betty patted his chest with her free hand. "That's good. He has a big heart." Betty tilted her head. "Want to sit down? I need to get to know you better."

"What?"

Betty smiled wide. "Come along." She headed back the way she had come dragging Clint by his elbow.

Clint followed along, trying to work out why he'd gotten out of the vents.

****

Bruce tried not to laugh at Clint's expression as Betty literally dragged Clint into the room. "Betty, let the poor man go."

Betty flashed her wolfish smile and propelled Clint towards Bruce. "Sit down, hon."

Bruce gently pulled Clint down beside himself. "She won't be stopped, Clint. You might as well sit down and listen to her."

Clint settled against him and held very still as Betty perched on the coffee table with her knees on either side of Clint's legs. "Alright."

Betty smiled and looked at Bruce. "Love, You want to tell me what I'm barging in on?"

Bruce wrapped his arm around Clint's shoulders. "Clint has a platonic relationship with Natasha, romantic asexual relationship with Phil, and we're together. I'm trying to figure out how I fit with the other two. Not, uh, for sexual things though."

Betty nodded. "Then they should be here too. Mr. JARVIS, is it possible for you to ask them to come here?"

"They are on their way, Dr. Ross."

Betty grinned at Bruce and Clint. "Good. Thanks. Now, you two are..." She waved her hand at them. "...happy together, yes?"

Bruce nodded as Clint ducked his head. "Yes."

Betty nodded as Phil and Natasha came in from different directions. "I'm not looking to be with anyone besides Bruce."

Natasha perched on the arm of the couch next to Clint. "We're figuring out who gets Bruce?"

Phil glared at her as he settled into the arm chair at the end of the coffee table. "Bruce isn't a prize."

"No, I didn't mean it like that." Natasha crossed her arms. "Why are we here?"

Betty glanced around at them all. "I'm thinking that Mr. Stark didn't realize how complex things are for you all. I'm happy he and Captain Rogers brought me here, but I...I don't want to break anything."

Bruce leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees. "I have sex with Clint. Natasha sleeps in the same bed with us sometimes. No sex. Phil rarely sleeps with us. He likes doing things together, like cooking."

With a nod, Betty bent down a little to meet Clint's eyes. "What do you want?"

Clint bit his lip. "I want Bruce happy. I...will step aside if that's what it takes."

Betty looked at Bruce's worried expression and then at Natasha frowning and Phil passively watching them all. "I want everyone happy." She turned towards Bruce. "I want to be with you. I don't want to rip you away from anyone."

Bruce looked up. "What if..." He worried his hands together. "Clint is being shared. Why can't I be shared?"

Clint's head came up. "Wha..." He looked from Betty to Bruce and back. "I'd...step aside..."

Betty smiled wide at him. "You don't have to, Clint." She looked at the other two. "I meant it, Bruce is it for me, but I won't begrudge him any love he's found here."

Natasha glanced from her to Clint and then looked over to Phil. "I'm good with it. I don't want sex from any of you."

Phil nodded. "I do not see a problem with including you within the group the four of us make."

Betty touched Clint's knees. "What do you think? Not what you'd do for him. I've heard that part. I want to hear how the idea of Bruce shared between us feels to you."

Clint looked at Bruce half-smiling at them. "I...I could see how much he loves you." He looked at Betty and covered her hands with his own. "I want to keep what I have."

Bruce rubbed Clint between his shoulder blades. "I'm not going anywhere."

Betty bumped her knees against Clint's legs. "We'll work it out." She looked to Bruce. "Alright?"

Bruce smiled at her and pulled Clint in against his chest as he started to shake. "Yeah. You have to knock if we're having sex. Same as Natasha."

Betty patted Clint's knees and pushed up to her feet. "Not a problem. Is there a bed around here? I'm still tired and I refuse to sleep on a couch all night."

****

Bruce settled himself down next to Clint. "You thought I'd just leave you?"

He buried his face against Bruce's shoulder. "She's your true love."

Bruce cupped the back of Clint's head. "She is, but I think you are too."

Clint huffed and held on tighter. "She means it? Sharing you like a slushie?"

Bruce chuckled and pulled the covers in tighter around Clint's back. "I'm not something to eat, but yeah. Betty is...pragmatic. I'm sharing you with others, is it so bad to share me with someone?"

Clint shook his head. "No, no. I just...You know her better than anyone. She won't get tired of it?"

Bruce kissed Clint on his temple. "No, Clint. She's made up her mind. That's all it takes."

****

Betty was expecting some form of...not hazing, but checking her reactions or maybe the shovel talk. She figured them letting her sleep was just because they were all emotionally tired. 

She wasn't expecting hot cocoa and Natasha offering to brush her hair the next morning. Betty sat down on a cushion at Natasha's feet and tipped her head forward as Natasha worked her fingers under Betty's hair.

"I'll be careful not to pull."

Betty smiled down at her cup of cocoa. "I got used to Bruce brushing it. You can pull some."

Natasha hummed as she parted Betty's hair into sections. "He loves you wholeheartedly."

"A lot like you love your men, hmm?" Betty tipped her head to the side as Natasha started at the ends of her hair with the brush. "What happened that Clint is so unsure?"

Natasha paused before nudging Betty's knee with her toes. "Don't ask questions you don't really want answered."

Betty held her ear tip down out of Natasha's brush's path. "Alright. He just seemed surprised that Bruce wasn't abandoning him for me."

Natasha sighed as she started on the next section of hair. "He has lost family so abandonment is an issue."

"Oh." Betty gently touched the bare toes of Natasha's right foot. "You ever paint your toe nails?"

With a snort, Natasha leaned sideways to look at Betty's face. "Subject change?"

Betty shrugged. "Sure. I already feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone."

"You thought I'd threaten you?"

"Crossed my mind." Betty ran her finger along the top of Natasha's foot. "So? Polish?"

"Sometimes."

"Ask Bruce to help you if you want. He has much steadier hands for painting than I do. He likes the colors."

Natasha put the sections she was done with over Betty's shoulder, out of her way. "You are...new to all of us."

"New? Why? Because I didn't scream or rail about Bruce and Clint? Or because I'm letting you brush my hair without a qualm?"

Natasha hummed as she worked on a tough tangle. "You are fierce without being lethally trained like myself or holding a high position in a company like Pepper. You bend yourself to fit the situation without losing yourself in the process. I admire that."

Betty tipped her head to look up at Natasha. "Admire?"

"Yes." Natasha gave her a half-smile. "Losing your sense of self is very difficult to get past. That's part of Clint's current issues."

Betty took a sip of her cocoa.

Natasha started on the last section of hair. "I had to cut my hair because of a mission. I like braiding. Your hair is very nice."

"Thank you. You can braid it however. I just don't want it tight along my neck, okay?"

"Not a problem. Clint has a thing for the braid that goes around your head like a crown."

Betty looked up at Natasha with a smile. "What are you trying to do? Get me into a threesome?"

Natasha snorted and tipped Betty's head to the side to start the braid. "He'll ease up in a few days and you'll be able to sleep in the same bed with them. Clint doesn't grope in his sleep."

"I had a boyfriend that claimed that once. Kept insisting he couldn't control himself even though by the time I woke up he was already awake, the ass."

"I take it you dumped him." Natasha plaited hair as she spoke.

Betty wrapped her hands tightly around her cup. "He was my first. Long before Bruce came along. I haven't ever told Bruce that the little bastard is why I have to sleep in clothes. Pajamas or shirt and shorts."

"Oh?"

"I got tired of waking up in the middle, you know? He'd always say that I seemed awake and weren't we a couple anyway. Oh, I should have left him long before I did, but...I thought I was in love."

"Hormones." Natasha gently pushed Betty's head so it tipped down as she braided carefully across the nape of Betty's neck. "The people that trained me, before SHIELD, bonded me to an agent they don't let out often. He's brainwashed so deeply he forgets me between each encounter."

"That sucks." Betty touched Natasha's forearm. "He's alive?"

Natasha blinked and took a deep breath. "I don't know anymore. I tell Clint love is for children."

"Lying to protect yourself only works if you can make yourself believe it too."

Natasha tipped Betty's head the other way as she continued braiding. "Clint has always seen through my lies. It became amusing eventually."

"Clint is the closest to another boyfriend you've had, then?"

"In a non-mission capacity. Coulson is safe because he doesn't want to fuck me. Clint is safe because while he'd like to fuck me he can control himself just fine."

Betty squinted as Natasha pulled a little too hard. "Last time I had a chance to make love with Bruce he couldn't because of the Hulk."

"Time has changed him. Or the suicide attempt. I know he and Clint have done a few things since the battle."

"He certainly looks like he feels more in control." Betty tipped her head again as Natasha took the braid back down past her hair to pick up the hair still not in the braid.

"He nearly killed me on the Hellicarrier."

"What happened? If I can know, that is."

Natasha flexed the fingers of her free hand as she held the braid in the other. "He was already agitated, under the influence of Loki's spear, and then there was an unexpected explosion."

"Oh, dear. That brought out the Hulk, didn't it?"

"Yes. I was trying to help him control it, but I said the wrong thing. He fought the transformation, but failed to stop it. Hulk caught sight of me and charged."

Betty ran her thumb over the tops of Natasha's bare toes. "Hulk has never been out when it wasn't a fight or to protect Bruce, that I know of. He gets shot at a whole lot. The only time I've seen Hulk not under fire he was scared of a thunderstorm. He threw a boulder at the lightning."

"He didn't try to kill you though."

"I didn't have a weapon. I was soaking wet and making calm down motions with my empty hands while I told him it was okay. That we were okay."

Natasha hummed as she finished off the braid. "You think he thinks."

"I know he thinks. I think Bruce is in there, he just can't think like normal." Betty rolled her head around on her neck. "Feels very solid. Thanks."

Natasha took a sip of her cocoa. "Thank you for letting me play with it."

Betty smiled. "Anytime. I can do a french braid, even with short hair, if you ever want."

"I'll take you up on that sometime." Natasha helped her up off the floor. "Bruce didn't mind when I slept in the same bed with them."

"He wouldn't mind." Betty patted Natasha's arm. "I wouldn't either. I will refuse being in the middle. I need to have an escape."

Natasha nodded. "You ever going to tell Bruce?"

"And have the Hulk trying to hunt down a guy who's name I've purposefully forgotten? Nope."

"Probably a good call." Natasha held up Betty's mug. "Want some more?"

Betty looked up from where she was running her fingers over the braid. "That'd be great."

****


	16. Chapter 16

****

Tony fiddled with the bracelet that Hulk had given him as he approached Bruce sitting on the balcony walkway. "Hey."

Bruce smiled up at him and then looked back out over the city. "Hi, Tony."

Tony flopped down next to Bruce. "I...uh, maybe I should have asked, but I wasn't thinking about your relationship with Clint when I did it."

Bruce shifted to look at him. "Tony, are you trying to apologize for bringing Betty here?"

Tony wrinkled his nose. "No...sort of? I just...I wasn't trying to mess with you."

With a soft sigh, Bruce leaned into Tony's shoulder for a moment before patting Tony's arm. "We'll all be fine, Tony." Bruce looked at him. "I'm not going to quit being your friend because you complicated my love life, alright?"

Tony sagged. "I...mess things up without really trying."

Bruce pulled Tony into his side and tucked Tony's head under his chin. "You never got to practice being friends with anyone as a child, did you?"

"Nope." Tony frowned and snuggled deeper into Bruce's embrace. "I couldn't trust anyone. No one just wanted to be my friend. There was always something they wanted from me that I couldn't give."

"What about the team?"

Tony wiggled in Bruce's arms. "I'm still working it out. Agent said I didn't feel safe with everyone here. That's why my body wasn't working right." 

"Working right?"

Tony sat back up. "I couldn't get an erection when I wanted it. With Steve and Jarvis in human shape I didn't have a problem. Weird, huh?"

"Not really." Bruce rubbed his fingertips across the back of Tony's neck. "This was after Thor's mead, wasn't it?"

"Oh." Tony grinned. "Yeah, it was." He looked at Bruce. "You going to be alright with your group orgies?"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "We aren't having orgies." He poked Tony in the side with a fingertip. "I'll be alright with my boyfriend and girlfriend and the platonic extended mess I've grown to adore."

Tony looked up at the sky. "Agent looks more relaxed."

"How can you tell?"

Tony waved his hand around his face. "The corner of his eyes aren't as tight. That's a good sign, isn't it?" He dropped his hand. "How long do you think we're going to live now, if we don't die in a battle or something?"

"I don't know." Bruce grimaced. "Thor hasn't really given details on how much or how often any Asgard gets the Golden Mead."

Tony stood up and brushed off his backside. "I'll corner Thor."

Bruce turned back towards the city. "If you need to freak out again, you know where I am."

Tony ruffled Bruce's hair before Bruce could pull away.

****

Clint landed on the mat with a thud and rolled away before Natasha could get an elbow into his back. She followed him with a quick, light kick to his stomach. He grabbed her foot and flipped her to the mat with him.

She twisted and they ended up with her wrapped around him, pinning Clint to the mat. "Done?"

Clint huffed. "Done."

Natasha nodded, but didn't move. "Your ears adjusted?"

Clint sagged, relaxing into the mat beneath them. "Asking to get up won't help will it?"

Natasha grinned. "Does it ever?"

"Not really." Clint rubbed one of his ears against her knee. "Hearing feels normal again. Can I get up now?"

"No." Natasha ran her fingertips over Clint's face and out to his ear tips and back again. "I braided Betty's hair for you."

Clint blinked. "Nat, are you trying to make my life more complex?"

Natasha shrugged with one shoulder as she mapped the skin of his neck. "I know what you like. They are like twins for coloring."

"What are we going to do about Phil's new abilities?"

She thumped him on the ear for changing the subject. "He'll adjust."

"He can tell the least little problem with a person's body. What's going to happen if I break a leg on the next mission?"

Nat hit him on the shoulder. "You know not to say things like that about missions that are upcoming. I will not have another Budapest, understood?"

"Yeah." Clint patted her foot. "Sorry, Nat."

"You should be." Natasha leaned back. "He was reading Thor's user manual last I saw."

Clint looked up at her hopefully. "Can I get up now?"

She smirked. "Only if you tell someone she looks pretty in her braid. I worked hard on that."

"Fine." Clint bucked. "Move."

Natasha glared down at him. "Promise?"

"Yes, yes, promise."

Natasha smiled and gracefully stood up. "Don't forget. I'd hate to have Bruce wake up to you dead beside him. He might think he'd hurt you in his sleep."

Clint brushed himself off. "You are so evil sometimes."

"Only sometimes?"

Clint flipped her off as she laughed at him.

****

Phil looked up from reading through Thor's document as Stark came in and headed straight for Thor.

Thor smiled. "Friend Tony, I have found a wondrous food you must try. It is solidified jelly in the shape of snakes."

Tony blinked and stared at the gummy worms. "Uh, hate to break your fantasy, Point break, but those are shaped like worms. Gummy worms."

Thor looked down at the candy and tilted his head. "Ah, yes, the bands aren't scales, then."

"No." Tony slid into a seat beside Thor and ignored Phil's presence. "I have a question for you."

Thor sat up a little straighter.

Tony rubbed his hand through his hair. "I wanted to know if you've got any idea how long we're expected to live now." Tony tapped the tabletop with his fingers. "Humans usually don't live past about 90 or so. Max has been 121 years."

Thor blinked. "Ah." Thor looked at Phil. "You need not fear you will outlive all you know." He looked back to Tony. "Nearer to this upper limit of which you speak, but no span of years such as I will have."

Tony frowned. "Thor, what are you going to do when we aren't around anymore?"

Thor shrugged. "Perhaps, I will still rule Asgard. I have thought I might watch over the children of my teammates."

"Children? I'm not having children."

Thor clapped him on the shoulder. "Of course you are not." He turned his head and winked at Phil as Tony tried not to buckle under the power of Thor's touch.

Phil frowned and brought up a split window so he could ask JARVIS to check on all of Tony's past female partners. Just in case.

****


	17. Chapter 17

****

Tony frowned at the scroll of information going across Agent's screen. "What are you doing?"

"Checking." Phil turned towards him. "Thor usually doesn't joke about things like children, Stark."

Tony sat down and watched the list of women scroll. "So, what? You're going to check in with all my exes? That's just stupid, Agent."

"Stupid?" Phil cocked his head. "How is it stupid, Tony? You've had quite a few liaisons. Any one of them could have had a failure with their birth control or the method of protection used."

Tony scowled. "That doesn't mean you should just...Wait, wait. You haven't called any of them. There's nothing in the gossip rags. So..." Tony narrowed his eyes at Phi. "Your powers are weird."

Phil snorted. "You have no idea. I found that if I concentrate I can see a shadow with the ones that have children. Those are the ones I'll check into further."

Tony dropped down next to him. "Having a child is not a good thing for me. I just...I can't."

Phil clapped him on the shoulder. "I probably won't find anything."

"Sure. That's why Thor mentioned it, because there is nothing to find."

****

Bruce sighed as he wrapped himself around Clint as he sat at the edge of the armor removal walkway. "You alright?"

Clint hummed and wrapped his hands around Bruce's forearms. "Yeah. What about you with the Hulk all integrated now?"

Bruce kissed the top of Clint's shoulder. "It still feels weird to know what he was thinking when he attacked this or that soldier firing at him. Mostly he wanted quiet because the noise was also colors in his vision. He was angry, but if they had just stopped shooting he wouldn't have killed so many."

Clint leaned back into Bruce's embrace. "Life is messy, isn't it?"

"Little bit, yeah." Bruce smiled as they looked out over the field of cranes the repairs had made of the city.

Clint sighed. "I wonder how many super powered people are out there."

"Enough that I think we're going to need a new label for them one of these days."

****

Natasha poked Phil in the arm with her spoon. "Find anything yet?"

Phil glanced at her and then at the ceiling. "Not yet."

Natasha shifted closer. "Do I need to go look it over?"

Phil shook his head. "He's old enough that I don't think we should inter...Shit."

Natasha blinked and snatched the tablet from Phil. He didn't just cuss. Ever. She read over the entry and frowned at the DNA results. "They knew? We knew?"

"Clearance level eight." Phil rubbed a thumb into his temple. "That's above what I am now."

Natasha nodded and flicked through the file. "He likes science. They'll get along there. Oh, look, sass." She grinned at Phil with his hand over his face. "Aww. Come on, you've got to admit this will be fun."

Phil waved his hand. "Keep reading."

Natasha read further and frowned. "Oh." She put down the tablet. "We were told to not go fight that lizard two days ago. Cap doesn't even know about it because Fury didn't want the Avengers tearing up the rebuilding city."

Phil rubbed both his temples. "The kid thinks his parents are dead. I don't see why we should mess with the situation."

Natasha cocked an eyebrow. "So maybe we shouldn't see if Stark can handle a nearly grown human? Or you just don't want the headache that it'll cause with Fury if we step in and say to this kid 'hey sorry, but your dad didn't know he wasn't your dad? Here's Stark and don't out sass each other?' Is that it?"

Phil put his head down on the table. "Natasha."

"I'll go talk to the kid." She waltzed out, ignoring Phil's shouts behind her.

****

Tony stared at the photo. The kid was brown haired and looked a lot like Tony's vague memory of the boy's mother. Tony put down the tablet and watched Natasha leaving the Tower. "She's going to what?"

"She told Agent Coulson she would speak to the young man, sir."

Tony nodded. "Okay." He blinked and patted the tablet under his hands. "Okay. No need to panic. The kid totally isn't mine." Tony rubbed at the rector. "I hate Thor. Remember that for me, JARVIS."

"Duly noted, sir."

Tony groaned and shoved it all out of his mind to work on the next Mark of his armor.

****

Peter stared as he rounded the corner to find a very pretty redhead sitting on his front steps. "Uh, hi."

She smiled and stayed sitting, her hands on her thighs. "Hello, Peter."

Edging around her because she made his spider-sense tingle just a little, Peter headed for his door. "Can I help you?"

She gracefully stood and held out her hand. "I'm Natasha Romanoff."

Peter shook carefully and nodded. "Okay. That's nice. And?"

She smiled. "And, we need to talk. It's about your parents."

Peter snorted as he opened the front door. "Look, I get that I haven't been all that nice to the other government lackeys, but sending someone as pretty as you isn't actually going to help matters."

Natasha stayed near the door. "What do you think your parents did before they died?"

Peter rubbed his hand through his hair. "I don't know. Knitting? What you think?" He kept distance between them as she moved to stand to one side of the front door.

"I think they were CIA." Natasha smiled. "Well, not think. I know they were. Your mother was part of a project that resulted in you." She spread her hands. "It was classified...is classified."

Peter glared. "Really? I guess I don't get to know about it then. I don't have that sort of clearance."

Natasha sighed. "Look, kid, all I want is to check you against a DNA sample I have on me. That's it. Nothing too dangerous. I won't leave with a sample of your blood or anything. Alright?"

Peter cocked his head. "Wait, wait. I thought you knew who my parents were."

"Still worth verifying." She waggled a little box at him. "Here. You're smart. You can run it yourself."

Peter took the box and looked down at it, turning it over. "I'll poke myself with my own pin. Deal?"

Natasha held up her empty hands. "Deal. I'll just sit, alright?"

He warily watched her until she was sitting down. It didn't actually help him feel safer, but she looked more harmless. Mentally snorting at himself, Peter pulled a needle from Aunt May's sewing and poked his finger. Dropping the blood into the little port the box light up. "I don't supposed it goes 'ding' when it's done does it?"

She grinned at him. "I see the resemblance now."

He frowned at her. "Resemblance to who?"

The little box beeped and the display light up.

Peter looked up at her. "Confirmed? That's it?"

She leaned back in her chair. "That's it. Unless you'd like to meet them man that's genetically your father."

Peter rubbed his thumb across his eyebrow. "I...Does he know about me? Is that why you're here?"

Natasha shrugged. "He officially doesn't know yet. The possibly of you was only found out this morning because I have a resident demi-god that can't grasp the idea of asking permission."

Peter stared. "Demi-god?" He realized where he'd seen her before. "Oh! Oh, you were on the news."

She rolled her eyes. "It took you long enough. Want to meet the rest of the Avengers?"

Peter shook his head. "Please tell me I'm not like Captain America's kid or something. I don't think I can live up to that sort of legacy."

Natasha snorted. "Oh, I'm totally seeing the resemblance. And, no, not Steve. You want to met Dr. Banner and your father or not?"

Peter held up a finger and took the little box with him upstairs. He crashed it and quickly changed into a cleaner shirt. He left a note for Aunt May on the fridge and headed back into the front room. "Alright. I'm ready to go."

"Finally." She lead the way out of the house. "You want to ride with me or make your own way to the Tower?"

Peter looked at the sleek car parked at the curb. "I...uhm, I'm not going to just disappear, right?"

Natasha patted him on the shoulder. "Kid, if I was going to kidnapp you I wouldn't have spent ten minutes wanting on your doorstep. Get in the car."

"Right." Peter pulled on the door handle. "So, who is my father? The Hawkeye guy?"

"Shut up and get in. You are just like your father, I swear."

Peter grinned and got into the car. If his dad was an Avenger and it wasn't Captain America, Banner, or Hawkeye that just left Thor and Tony Stark. Peter leaned his head against the headrest. Of course, she could be bluffing. Lying about the whole thing. 

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really bad about the way this story has gone. I normally have a plot all worked out and generally follow that. This story was the first one where I just let it grow organically.
> 
> I have veered so far into left field I have no idea if it is still readable for the person it was supposed to be a gift story for. Sorry, Irradiations. If you'd like a different story to make up for how this one is turning out just email me at whiteraven16 @ gmail.com and I'll talk to you about it.
> 
> To everyone that has read this far: Thank you very much for putting up with me on this one. Just one more chapter to go.


	18. Chapter 18

****

Natasha pushed Peter off the elevator as gently as she could make herself be. She watched as he stared all around himself.

"Oh, wow. Awesome." He moved over to look down the walkway for Tony's armor removal. "The whole suit of armor comes off in that amount of walking? He has to walk for it to work, right?"

She cocked her head. "As far as I know. You'll have to ask him yourself."

Peter turned wide eyes towards her. "Why are there dents in the floor under that glass?"

Natasha smirked. "That's Loki-dents from Hulk beating him like a rag-doll. I would suggest you don't upset Dr. Banner."

Peter nodded as he stared down at the dents. "Right. Okay."

Steve bustled in, pushing Stark in front of him. "Hello, Agent Coulson said that Natasha was bringing a houseguest."

If Peter's eyes got any wider, Natasha was going to worry about the kid's ability to blink being compromised.

"Oh, wow. That's just...awesome." He bit his lip and cocked his head to the side. "I, ah, sort of collected Captain America trading cards when I was little. Would you mind signing them?"

Steve smiled gamely and shook hands with Peter. "Sure. I'm Steve. So, please no calling me Captain Rogers or anything, alright?"

Peter nodded dumbly and then turned to Tony. "I love the repulser technology. It looks like you could make it into rocket booster that's way lighter and much less likely to blow up."

Tony double blinked and then raised his eyebrows. "Wow, you really are my kid." He grinned. "As long as you don't expect me to act like a parent we're going to get along _great_."

Peter froze for a bare moment and then smiled. "I'd really rather just...talk?"

Tony nodded fast. "How about we lay down that rocket thingy, huh?"

Steve came to stand by Natasha to watch them wonder out of the room. "Why do I feel that was actually a bad thing?"

Natasha grit her teeth. "Because it was bad in a way. Come on, let's go find Coulson."

****

Bruce hadn't expected tears and hugs, but he certainly thought they'd act more like they were trying to relate or something. Well, with Tony, breaking some scientific law with a lab partner was relating, Bruce supposed.

He settled in on a nearby stool and watched at they fashioned the repulsers into some sort of rocket. The boy, Peter, was all elbows and awkward gestures as he ran through the model, showing Tony where he thought they could lighten the load. Bruce cocked his head.

"That can't be lightened. You'll lose the whole rocket if it tries to correct pitch in the second stage."

Peter's head snapped around. "Oh." He stared at Bruce for a moment and then Bruce was tamping down the other guy's panicked reaction as Peter was suddenly across the lab faster than a normal human could move. "You are...awesome!"

Bruce glanced at Tony across the lab, with his arms crossed and smirk on his face, then back to Peter. "Okay?"

Peter rubbed his forehead and then spread his empty hands. "Sorry, I just...I really think the Hulk is cool." He made a face. "You too. I mean, as a doctor...I'll just be quiet now."

Bruce bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Thanks. I think."

Tony came over and slung his arm across Peter's shoulders. "Anyone hungry?"

****

Tony sat down next to Peter and turned his plate so that the meat was closet to him. "I didn't mean to imply that I didn't want to be your parent. Just that there's no way I think I could replace what you had."

Peter glanced at him as he stabbed a piece of broccoli with his fork. "I barely remember him. You aren't replacing Uncle Ben either."

Tony cut up his steak. "Good, good." He looked at Peter again. "You make the webbing biologically?"

"No." Peter slipped his sleeve up. "I made myself webshooters. The physical stuff...is less visible."

Tony looked the webshooter over carefully. "That's well made. Good for you. What does less visible mean, exactly?"

Peter shrugged. "I have nano-hairs that let me cling to anything."

"Huh." Tony nodded. "Vibrational sensing went up too?"

"Yeah." Peter cocked his head. "Why did you decide to talk to me?"

Tony pushed his food around on his plate. "I didn't know about being your father until yesterday."

"Oh." Peter blinked. "I thought you'd just not...Okay, that's different." He shook his head a little. "If you had known sooner what would you have done?"

"Freaked the fuck out." Tony sighed. "I didn't want kids. Parenting stuff is cyclic you know? I don't want to inflect me on a kid. You're all grown. You can hold your own, but a kid? Nah. I'd scar them or something."

Peter frowned. "You were abused?"

"What? No." Tony huffed and stuffed a bite of steak into his mouth. "Dad just didn't have time for me."

Peter rubbed his hand through his hair. "Oh. Uh...Sorry."

Tony shrugged and pointed at Peter's plate with his knife. "Ancient history, kid. Eat."

****

Phil watched Peter devour food like Steve could. It was amusing. The boy was thin, but strong. He'd like to see what Peter could do against Steve or Thor. Phil eyed Natasha as she slipped in between Clint and him.

"What? It would have taken a month to get clearance. This was faster."

Phil huffed and turned to watch Peter tug on Mjolnir's handle. "He's going to be a disaster."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, but it'll be fun to watch."

Peter fell over as Thor thumped him on the back as he gestured to Tony to pick up Mjolnir.

Peter looked at Tony holding the hammer from every angle and kept asking questions as Thor smiled down on them both.

Bruce leaned against Clint and pulled Betty in beside himself. "When are we making him an Avenger?"

Steve leaned forward from his seat beside Phil. "He hasn't even had his powers for a year yet."

Bruce shrugged. "He's already fought a major battle, Steve."

Phil sighed. "I'd rather he be trained properly before we make it official."

Bruce and Clint shared a smile.

****


End file.
